The real Charlie
'I am in a constituency of stars, yet no one outside Tallaght really knows who I am." Charlie O'Connor, backbench Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South West, enjoys his anonymity.
His constituency is home to the leader of the Labour party, Pat Rabbitte, Fianna Fáil junior minister Conor Lenihan and one of Sinn Féin's most prominent politicians, Sean Crowe, who topped the poll there in the last election.
Some people say a politician can play the national stage or the local, but not both. O'Connor keeps it local.
He has lived in Tallaght for 35 years, shops in the Square shopping centre, brings his granddaughter to the cinema there, operates a full time constituency office in the village and takes the LUAS into work. In the last election, his first, O'Connor got more first preference votes than his Fianna Fáil colleague, Conor Lenihan. (O'Connor took the seat vacated by retiring junior minister Chris Flood.)
To describe his relationship with his constituency colleague, he borrows a phrase used by the late Brian Lenihan: he says there is "creative tension" between them. He won't be drawn into commenting on Lenihan's recent "kebab" gaff in the Dáil, when he heckled Joe Higgins about the Turkish Gama workers.
Dublin South West, once a network of villages, is now the third biggest population group in the country. Tallaght is its heart, with a bigger population itself than both Limerick and Galway, and the highest crime rate in the country. A third of its population are under the age of 35 and the percentage who go on to third level education is one of the lowest in the country.
"When I was growing up, in Crumlin, we didn't have any youth centres, but we still didn't get ourselves into trouble", says O'Connor.
"A whole new approach is needed to youth anti-social behaviour". He is "hugely supportive" of Michael McDowell's plans to introduce Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).
His biggest area of concern is policing. Tallaght needs more gardaí, and he says this is one of the issues raised most frequently by his constituents. He is campaigning for the redevelopment of the existing Garda station in Tallaght and is also calling for another one to be built to the west of the city.
O'Connor says the LUAS has been a huge boost to Tallaght, not only bringing Tallaght people into the city centre, but also bringing people from the rest of Dublin out to Tallaght. He is now campaigning for the extension of the line out to Citywest. He has discussed this with the Minister for Transport on a number of occasions and says the response has been "very positive". And because there are a lot of business interests in the area, the Government is likely to get extra funding.
Charlie O'Connor was the first Fianna Fáil backbencher to be chosen to run in the next general election, at the constituency convention two weeks ago. On the last day of Dáil business, Enda Kenny pointed to O'Connor's seat as a Fine Gael target. Brian Hayes, the leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad, will run against him.
But O'Connor is confident of his seat. He is possibly one of the only politicians with no complaints about the job (the long hours, the travelling).
"I am absolutely honoured to be a member of Dáil Eireann and I love it. I never once sat at home and thought, 'I want to be a TD'. I just go about my business, do my work and provide the services. I just hope people are noticing what I am doing and want me to continue doing it."
Mary Regan