The public’s perception of politicians can be classified into the simplest of things: preserves.
We have the jams – seemingly sweet with fruitiness that attempts to create a wholesome element.
Jam won’t ever change the world but it’s a steady family favourite, with a reasonably long shelf life. A lot of old-school parish pump politicians are jams.
Then there are the relishes. These are the alternative recipes that quite often go overboard with one particular flavour and spoil the taste.
Every ballot paper across the country will have its relishes.
These are the people who one night gave a passion filled speech in their local and were told “You know what – you’d make a great politician!”
Relishes tend to expire quickly.
And then there is marmite. As the cliché goes, you’ll “love it or hate it.”
Just like the vegemite paste, marmite candidates are an acquired taste, they polarise opinions but sometimes they satisfy the appetites of those who hunger for something with a bit more bite than jam.
And the public reaction to the arrest of Independent deputy Mick Wallace tells us that he falls into this category.
On one hand he has been hailed a human rights defender. His protest has taken his profile to a whole new height, but on the other hand his critics have now found fuel to drive their campaign against the staunch left-winger.
For some reason international relations has never been a selling point in an Irish election.
While the image of the drowned body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian Kurd from Kobani, lying on a beach in Turkey might have prompted a huge emotional reaction from the Irish public, the situation in Syria and much of the Middle East for that matter won’t be the decisive issue for most on polling day for most.
For a significant portion of the electorate, securing funding for local capital projects will be the yardstick that the three sitting TDs will be measured against.
In this stake, of course government party representatives Brendan Howlin and Paul Kehoe will come up trumps.
But Wallace doesn’t seem bothered by this.
After his controversial tweet in the wake of the Paris attacks went viral, it became clear that while his stance would gain him media attention, his outspoken approach wouldn’t always aid his popularity.
He’s not concerned about appeasing anyone by filling potholes, even the people who gave him their first preference in 2011. But there is no denying his consistent approach to address the issues that he has offered his commitment to.
His critics have clutched on to the school of thought that his day-trip to Limerick Prison is yet another attack on the tax-payer’s purse.
This isn’t surprising, mainly because of Wallace’s own VAT record but also because the estimated cost of gardai escorting a prisoner from one side of the country to the other are easier for the public to comprehend than the far less tangible concept of militarisation and the impact that our reserved stance is having on civilian lives in the Middle East.
With the media pursuing him like bloodhounds, Wallace is sucking up more headlines than perhaps any other general election candidate in the country.
But rather than using this attention to promote a traditional election manifesto, he is bringing the politically ‘unsavoury’ issue of a violent conflict in another continent to the fore.
His declaration that he intends to return to Shannon Airport reiterates that he is not going to back down.
What remains to be seen is what policy his opponents will adopt in relation to the on-going crisis in the Middle East.
The Labour Party in particular, with its historic ties to the trade union SIPTU, has in the past been particularly vocal on the plight of the Palestinians. A SIPTU representative was among those on board a flotilla that attempted to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza to deliver aid in 2011.
Last year prominent Labour Party TDs including former minister of State for foreign affairs Joe Costello and Clare TD Michael McNamara spoke of their disappointment at the government’s decision to abstain in a United Nations vote calling for a commission of investigation to be set up into allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Given this stance, it’s difficult to imagine that they share the same enthusiasm as the François Hollande and David Cameron have for air-strikes against Syria as a way of targeting ISIS militants.
Arguably, many across all political divides have deep-seated concerns around the unfolding situation in the Middle East and Europe’s involvement in this next tranche of violent atrocities.
And yet they remain among Wallace’s strongest rivals.
But perhaps the government parties have missed the mark and underestimated the public’s growing interest in foreign affairs. Their sole interest in the domestic recovery has blinkered them.
And Mick Wallace and Claire Daly are now climbing the polls (not the fence this time) because of their stance on an issue, which until now has been low on the Irish political agenda.