The long road in Cork North Central

That’s my boy! Victorious Jonathan O’Brien with son Connor

BY PAUL HOGAN

JONATHAN O’BRIEN has been involved in politics for just over a decade now and his and Sinn Féin’s undoubted hard graft and vocal opinion on local issues is set to be rewarded with a seat in Dáil Éireann at the third time of asking.
Married to Gillian, they have two sons and two daughters: Ryan (16), Aoife (12), Niamh (8) and Connor (6).
The Farranree native who lives in the heart of the Cork North Central constituency is tipped by many to finally make the breakthrough and create history by becoming the first-ever Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central.
It’s been a long road and Jonathan (39) feels the combination of the party’s policies and his work on the ground has brought about the real potential for his promotion from local to national politics.
The campaign has been positive and it received a huge boost in the run-up to polling when Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams canvassed with Jonathan in Gurranabraher and Knocknaheeny. This included a visit to St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital, controversially earmarked for closure soon with all services being transferred to the South Infirmary in the city centre.
“The campaign has been okay,” Jonathan says. “We’ve been pretty happy with it, to be honest. It’s the culmination of over 10 years’ work.
“People think an election campaign is only three weeks long but we’ve been working to win a seat in Cork North Central for the last 12 years or so and we’re not being complacent.”
The avid Cork City FC fan has seen his star rise since the 2002 general election where he picked up 6.3% (2,860) first-preference votes at a time when Fianna Fáil was the dominant party with three seats.
2007 brought about almost a 2% increase in his first preference vote to 8.2% (3,456) and, four years on, O’Brien was widely expected to see that percentage surge to double figures.
“Our policy platform is very important because when the electorate are looking to elect people to the big stage then they tend to look closely at the party’s policy issues.
“Your own reputation as an individual helps. I’ve built up a very strong local profile through a lot of hard work.
“You have to be honest with people and they know when they come to me then they will get the truth, whether it’s what they want to hear or not.”
Jonathan hasn’t changed his approach this time around and his answer was unequivocal in terms of what is required in the coming days and weeks, whatever the result after the count.
“Hard work, hard work and hard work.”