Politics with a small ‘p’

agendaNi’s David Whelan travelled to Armagh to find out more about the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor who claimed the highest percentage of first preference votes in the whole of the north in his first election.

Not many republicans will know what it feels like to work under the ominous glare of William of Orange, or to hold David Irvine up as a political role model, but on meeting the new Lord Mayor of Armagh, Craigavon and Banbridge Borough Council, there’s an instant sense that Garath Keating is a bit different from those who have gone before him.

It’s not just the youthful look or the quirky style, he’s engaging and exhibits a real passion for his work. He is also resolute in his own judgement: “My politics are my own and they are not set out to offend someone else’s political views. Everyone is entitled to their own politics and in this day and age there is room for those different opinions,” he says. Keating makes the comments while explaining that life-size portrait of William of Orange, which hangs opposite the Lord Mayor’s desk in the Armstrong room of The Palace Demesne, Armagh, is important to some people within the borough.

His conviction in his own beliefs may also explain him offering up people like former PUP leader David Irvine and Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn when quizzed on figures he admired in the political sphere. “Whatever you think of his politics, Jeremy Corbyn has held firm to a principled approach for a long time and has never deviated from those principles,” explains Keating. “David Irvine I am enamoured with. He was someone who was comfortable in his own political beliefs, enough so that he wasn’t threatened by others’ beliefs. He seen the bigger picture in terms of economic barriers and recognised that the threat to loyalist communities wasn’t from nationalism but from issues like educational under-attainment and a loss of skilled jobs. I had a lot of respect for him as a politician and I think his death marked a loss to the political discourse here.”

In terms of his own philosophy, Keating points to “politics with a small p”. As an Armagh native, he became politically active with Sinn Féin as a student studying Law at Queen’s University in Belfast, taking on the role of Students’ Union (SU) vice-president of education. During his Masters in European integration and public policy, he took a sabbatical to serve as education officer on a party platform. After business school in Manchester, Keating spent five years working for a law firm that specialised in defending insurance companies against insurance fraud.
“It was an interesting and rewarding job but I have an outgoing and engaging personality which often didn’t suit the type of methodical work I was doing. Somedays I would have spoken to maybe five people in the whole working day and it took me a while to work out that it was bothering me. The other aspect for me was that I have always had an inherent wish to help others, to engage with people and ease their difficulties if I can,” he says.

Such an opportunity presented itself in the shape of a phone call from an old party colleague in the SU, who alerted Keating to an opening for a political advisor to Newry and Armagh MLA Cathal Boylan.

From there Keating went on to be co-opted on to Armagh Council in 2013 and then elected to the shadow Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council in May 2014, polling 2,298 votes – the highest personal first preference vote of all candidates standing in the new super-council elections. Last year he was the party’s group leader within the council.

Asked where he takes his political base from Keating responds: “It’s mostly from my own experiences of the world. My politics aren’t controversial. They are a straight-forward reflection of the experiences that I have lived. Politics would have been discussed around our dinner table in the evenings but I wouldn’t come from what you might describe as a traditionally strong republican background. I’ve always been community-orientated, friendly and empathetic with people. I’ve always had a good ability to relate and understand and I think politics was the vehicle to help me best utilise those traits.”

In terms of his political rise, the newly-married Keating points to a number of contributing factors in his success. “Politics in general and certainly the council system doesn’t usually propel young scruffy-looking people to the forefront,” he jokes. “But I think my more ‘normal’ look may have resonated with some youngsters, who maybe wouldn’t have taken an interest before. Being a visible presence and relatively well-known person within Armagh probably helped too but most of my votes are based on work done by those before me and around me. Previous councillors and MLAs have put in a lot of hard-work building up a solid support base within the borough and my hope would be to consolidate and add some value to that.”

Given the relatively recent formation of the new super-council, another first being achieved under Keating’s reign is that it is the first time that Sinn Féin has ever held a chair or mayoral role in either Banbridge or Craigavon.

“It wasn’t something that was lost on me but it was also something that I was keen to make a non-entity from the start. I’ve always set out to work for all members of the community regardless of outlook, persuasion, orientation or race. I had confidence in my own ability to undertake this role in a manner that would make it easier for people of all backgrounds to respond to me. A key influence in my decision to take on the role was that I saw scope for there to be more of a positive image for local politics. Too many times the political conversation is narrowed by negativity and arguments over things that cannot be resolved in the short to medium term,” he says.

Approaching politics with a small p has played out in Keating’s ambitions for the year which he describes as the three C’s – commerce, charity and civic pride.

On commerce he said that he hopes to lead the council in taking a more creative approach in the face of out-of-town retail units, online shopping and cuts to public expenditure.

“The current reality of public spending means development, investment and economic growth isn’t going to come from the public sector. It’s going to require mature economic and mature political thinking on how we can engage with the private sector and build those partnerships.”

On civic pride, Keating says that he wants to encourage a political interest in what’s going on closer to home. He adds: “A lot of attention is paid to what I describe as marquee politics, those issues that play out as factions and tensions in the media. In reality the majority of politics is made up of shaping delivery of services. I want people to be more aware of the decisions that are affecting them on their doorstep, such as planning policy.”

He concludes: “A shortage of public funding will invariably leave gaps in our local communities. As a council we’d love to be able to fund more classes and activities but the reality is that public spending is being reduced. It must not stop people getting involved at a community level and I’d like to see local people helping to fill those gaps. On the same hand I’d like to see more people being active in the community and helping to build that civic pride that we hope will be the betterment for the borough.”