Search Results for 'General Election'

Well, last week I began the column by talking about Roscommon and Mayo, so I had better be true to myself and begin this column by talking about the replay at the weekend.

Niall Ó Tuathail's official announcement as the Social Democrats' Galway West candidate at the next General Election is simply confirmation of what many political watchers had long expected.

'The Men of the West', that iconic photograph of Michael Kilroy's flying column taken with only the aid of natural light on the southern slopes of Nephin at 11.45pm on the longest day of the year in 1921, is known to us all. It hangs in numerous Mayo pubs and homes and thanks to the quality of the conditions and the skill of the photographer, we can clearly see the resolute expressions of the young men, we know their names and know their stories. But what of the photographer himself? What of the man who captured this first ever photo of an IRA unit on active service in Ireland? Jack Leonard did not just happen upon Kilroy and his men that bright June night. He was no amateur photographer, and neither was he a bystander during his country's fight for freedom. With a keen sense of duty, Leonard used his talent to capture all aspects of Mayo life in the early twentieth century. Jack 'JJ' Leonard was born in 1882 in Crossmolina and as a young man he trained in journalism and photography in London. He returned to Ireland in 1906 to set up his photography business at a time when the country was in political flux. Emotions and anger remained after the Land War in Mayo, a period of civil unrest and violence in the late 1800s, and the methods of parliamentary nationalists were now being challenged by physical force republicans. 

Theresa May's 'seemed like a good idea at the time' but in reality, reckless gamble, to call an early election in Britain, resulting in the Tories losing their majority, caused Leo Varadkar to resist any temptation to call a snap election in the Republic, after his elevation as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach.

While the last electoral constituency review of County Galway saw it divided into three - like Gaul in Caesar's time - the latest review is more tinkering at the edges - but even these modest changes will worry at least one of our most prominent TDs.

The first six months of 2017 have been hectic to say the least - a change of taoiseach, arguments which have severely tested the stability of the government and brought us to the brink of a general election more than once, a UK general election, and the collapse of the Stormont Assembly.

The recommendations of the Constituency Commission to move North Roscommon into the Sligo-Leitrim constituency is “an illogical and savage butchery of County Roscommon”.

Sinn Féin have denied allegations made this week by party candidate and former Mayor of Athlone Paul Hogan that he has been the victim of a bullying campaign from within his own party.

Well, I do not know where to begin this week with all the mayhem we have had in the UK, in the North, here at home, in France and, I am sure, elsewhere. Some of the mayhem was good, but some was bad.