My dad has to get better - I need him

 

Today has been a nightmare. My daughter cried herself to sleep because she doesn’t want me to be a County Councillor anymore and my dad is in hospital waiting on an angiogram.

 

I completely understand my little girl's stance – at least three nights a week I'm not home until 10.30pm, but my delayed return this evening had everything to do with my dad.

 

He’s your typical GAA-loving, emotionally-challenged, culchie stranded in Dublin and I love him madly. But today I got a call from my mum saying he’s been rushed to hospital with high blood pressure and chest pains. Not good for a man with a history of heart problems.

 

Our relationship hasn’t always been easy, but I think that’s because we are so alike.  We are both driven, determined, stubborn and slightly unhinged. And in recent years we have discovered a common interest in politics – he has long been devoted to a particular political party and I am driven to change the way they do politics in this country.

 

But the one thing that means the world to me is that once I decided to run in the Local Elections in 2014, my dad pounded the pavement, put up posters and probably, most impressively, stood on doorsteps while voters slagged off his own beloved party.

 

There were nights when it was just the two of us out in the bitter cold knocking on doors, disturbing dinners and cliff-hanger episodes of EastEnders. We’ve had doors slammed in our faces and abuse from desperate people who feel totally betrayed by the entire political system.

 

And yet, as we going home each evening, he would ask where we were headed again the next night. I still meet people who say they voted for me because they were canvassed by my dad and were so impressed by his belief in me. 

 

Please don’t get me wrong – we are not the Waltons by any stetch of the imagination. We don’t show emotion and we don’t talk about our feelings, generally. My mum is very much part of that generation whose motto was: "Don’t make a show of yourself" (she actually meant "don’t make a show of me!")

 

In fact, during canvassing there was this fear that I would get 11 votes and make a show of us all!  But we actually did very well and I'm making an impact and a difference to my community, which is why I’ve decided to run in the General Election. 

 

But at what cost? I had to make a pact tonight with my daughter to limit the number of meetings I go to at night – in fairness, I had five planned for this evening. She is worried about her mum and tonight this daughter is worried about her dad.

 

I can’t do my job without my dad.  He’s my one-man, non-party machine and I need him.

 

Please, let his heart be as strong as it is big and let’s get back to pounding those pavements – just a few nights a week.

 

Mum-of-two Deirdre O’Donovan is an Independent county councillor, living in South Dublin with her IT consultant husband. Deirdre was a successful journalist, but following the birth of her second child in 2007, her career came to an abrupt end when her baby’s digestive issues meant she couldn’t return to work. Thanks to her ‘Army of Mums’ she was elected to South Dublin County Council last May and now works full-time assisting constituents and community groups within the Rathfarnham constituency.