All politics is local. All local politics is parochial. And all Fine Gael councillors from the Bailey family in the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown constituency seem unable to turn around without pissing off potential voters. Or maybe it’s just me.

After writing to Maria Bailey, voicing my disgust at a traffic calming plan outside her house and that of her father, Cllr John Bailey, I vented my anger at their repeated bombardment of letterboxes with their literature. It drew the following response, dated 28/11/08, with a promise that it would end:

“I note your annoyance with the information leaflets I personally drop at your house and if you wish not to be kept informed of the issues in your area that is fine with me.  Personally I think it is important that people are kept informed by there public representatives on a regular basis and not just at election time. However as requested I will ensure my leaflets are not put in your letter box.”

The above pic isn’t a trick of Photoshop. It dropped on the mat this week, and it wasn’t the first since Cllr Bailey’s hollow promise, either.

I probably would have let it go, but this morning, while in a rush to get to work, I come up behind her father’s FG-emblazoned campaign van, driving along Glenageary Rd Lower at a snail-like 25km/h, trapping a long stream of frustrated commuters behind it.

What benefit Fine Gael see in preventing voters from getting to work on time and continuing with their junk mail campaign is beyond me.