This article is from page 13 of the 2011-01-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
THERE are four members of Dáil Éireann charged with representing the interests of County Clare. Unlike other countries, Irish parliamentarians are all well known to us. They live in our localities, attend our funerals and are available, quite literally on a 24/7 basis for constituents. Their offices and clinics are visible to us and come election time we will meet them all at least once.
But what is it they actually do? How do they spend their time? How are they helping the county of Clare? How are they working for us? How are they delivering for you?
We decided to ask them.
From this week on The Clare People will host the four TDs in four separate weekly columns side by side. The parameters are simple enough. We asked each TD to describe their working week for the people of Clare. Where were they? How will this benefit Clare? What did they get done? They have four hundred odd words to fill – how they do that is their own affair. We will not be editing their copy, but we will be rating them on their contributions. We invite you to do the same.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind. Firstly and most importantly,