This is how the county of Mayo may be divided ahead of the 2014 local elections

THE manner in which Mayo is split into four district council areas ahead of next year’s local elections has evolved into a hot political talking point.
It’s a particularly sensitive one within Fine Gael circles as a number of outgoing councillors are rightly fearful over the loss of their seats.
The party currently holds the majority on the council with 17 of the 31 seats but causalities are inevitable due to public discontent with the
government’s austerity policies.
Against a background of uncertainty and trepidation, the Fine Gael grouping on the authority tentatively agreed to make a submission outlining the creation of four district council areas based on one elected member for every 4,357 population in each district council area.
The new-look divisions should, according to Fine Gael, consist of nine seats in Castlebar, eight seats in Ballina, seven in Claremorris and six in Westport, making a total of 30 seats.
While the county was only entitled to 27 seats by the new terms of references, it is allowed three additional ones due to the abolishment of
the town councils in Ballina, Castlebar and Westport, thus bringing the criteria of one member for every 4,829 head of population down to 4,357 in respect of Mayo.
It is understood the party recommended the Castlebar area be extended to include the towns of Swinford and part of Foxford with  Belmullet included in the Ballina area.

Belmullet Sinn Fein Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh is seeking her party's nomination to stand in the 2014 European Parliament election in the North West constituency

MAYO Sinn Féin Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh is being lined up as her party’s candidate in next year’s European Parliament elections in the North West constituency, The Connaught Telegraph can reveal.

The Erris-based representative, who was first elected to public office in the 2009 local elections in the Belmullet electoral area, confirmed her interest in the candidacy when contacted by this newspaper.

In the likely event of her securing the nomination at the forthcoming selection convention, it is also her intention to  contest the 2014 district council elections. Strategists within her party are optimistic of building on the strong  performances by Padraig MacLochlainn and Pearse Doherty in the 2009 and 2004 European Parliament elections,  respectively.

MacLochlainn received 45,515 first preferences while Doherty secured 65,321, the latter losing out on a seat by Fine  Gael candidate Jim Higgins’s superior vote-transfer power.

Councillor Conway, a member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle, revealed: “It is true that I am giving the matter serious  consideration and have been for a number of weeks since it was first raised.

“I believe it has never more important for the people in this constituency to have a Sinn Féin MEP truly representing  their opinions and values in Europe.“The democratic deficit between the people who are most impacted by the ever increasing number of decisions made at  EU level and the European institutions must be addressed.

“If the party membership see me as being the candidate with the right attributes to contest the seat then I will give it my  full and earnest consideration.

“I accept I would face a big challenge in my efforts to be elected if I am successful in securing the nomination. But I  have never been one to shy away from a challenge,” she outlined.

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Deput Michell MulherinAN internal Fine Gael row has erupted over Health Minister Dr. James Reilly’s clandestine visit on November 12 last to Mayo General Hospital and the Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar.

The minister, who has accompanied by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, met with the managers of the two facilities, Charlie Meehan and Michael Fahy.

The meeting formed part of a series of impromptu meetings the minister is currently making around the country in order to meet with management and staff at first hand.

However, The Connaught Telegraph has learned that Dr. Reilly’s coming to Castlebar infuriated Mayo Fine Gael Deputy Michelle Mulherin.

Brandishing a copy of last week’s issue of this newspaper and drawing attention to the front page lead story, the Ballina TD rounded on the minister at a party meeting in Leinster House for not giving her and her elected colleagues prior notice of his visit.

Although Deputy Mulherin declined to make any comment when contacted, it is understood she left Dr. Reilly in no doubt as to her annoyance over learning about the visit from The Connaught Telegraph rather than from the minister himself or his staff.

An Taoiseach, Enda KennyIT happened to be Valentine’s Night: February 14, 1986. But politics rather than romance was the focus for this crowd awaiting the return to Mayo of their newly promoted local hero, Enda Kenny.

After 10 years and three months in Dáil Eireann, and just weeks short of his 35th birthday, he had finally achieved junior government office as Minister of State for Youth Affairs.

By Christmas of that year, however, the writing was on the wall. On January 20, 1987, the four Labour Party ministers quit the coalition government because they could not agree with Finance Minister John Bruton’s Budget cutbacks planned for the coming year.

Polling was fixed for February 17 and a gruelling four-week campaign loomed.

Enda Kenny’s first taste of government action had lasted just  one year.

Ironically, Enda Kenny’s first government job had more to do with Des O’Malley and the Progressive Democrats than with the belated recognition of his talents within Garret FitzGerald’s Fine Gael.

It also had much to do with local Fine Gael wars in his Mayo West home turf: specifically, conflict with local dissidents Frank Durcan of Castlebar and, to a lesser extent, Martin Finn of Claremorris.