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Well it’s been a busy week again, but to begin this column this week I’m going to start on a gentler note.

As I am compiling this weekly column for the Advertiser, people in the US are voting in the mid-term elections for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So by the time my column appears the results will be fully out. I hope that the polls which are forecasting Democratic wins in the House of Representatives are correct, but of course our belief in polls has run low. President Trump has put a huge effort into shoring up the Republican seats in both the Congress and the Senate, and he has campaigned tirelessly for the last 10 days hoping to consolidate the Republican vote. It seems that the US is viewing these mid-term elections as a referendum on President Trump and his handling of the US. So it will be very intriguing to see the results and to see whether the Democrats will come back in charge of the House of Representatives.

Ireland West Airport announced a major boost for the West of Ireland this week with the news that Ryanair will commence a new direct service from Cologne in Germany, starting in June next year.

Now I know that all of us are becoming absolutely bored and worn out with all of the Brexit talk, and yet it is so important to each and every citizen in this country. If satisfactorily concluded, it will enable us all to continue on a decent economic path. If it is not satisfactorily concluded, well then everything goes awry in the business world and with that then goes the living standards of this country, north and south. It is extremely important.

So much to talk about, so little space.

Sinn Féin’s presidential candidate Liadh Ní Riada was in Galway last Friday as her campaign kicked off in earnest and she took time to sit down with me and chat about the race for the Áras and the issues that drive her political vision.

Hello to all the Advertiser readers.

The Lough Rea Hotel and Spa will host a Brexit Masterclass Breakfast with RTÉ’s Europe Editor, Tony Connelly on Wednesday 26 September at 7:30am. The broadcaster and historian, John Bowman, will moderate the event.

Last week Fine Gael held its annual party think-in at the Galway Bay Hotel and, on Thursday morning, I had a sit-down with An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to hear his thoughts on a range of local and national issues.

The sight of the politicians gathering for their annual ‘think-ins’ is one of the signs the summer is over. As with the country as a whole, the Government has had a generally good summer with a post-referendum boost and generally strong economic performance to buoy it. However, the autumn will bring its challenges and it may not all be plain sailing.