North Mayo is facing a major political shake-up

“The people of Ballina are transactional and not party-affiliated”

by Caoimhín Rowland

BALLINA has undergone tremendous change in the past five years, with its birthday celebration marked poignantly by US President Joe Biden adorning the masses from St. Muredach’s Cathedral a year ago this month.

Last April, Biden was an eminently more popular figure than now. Dining out on his reputation could be a danger as he oversees and refuses to engage with ongoing trauma in the Middle East.

But focusing on the local front in Ballina’s upcoming ballot to select its councillors, we could be witnessing a seismic sea-change in the district.

Currently, six seats are up for grabs, and the incumbents are well-balanced. Two are held by each of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, along with two Independents, Mark Duffy and Seamus Weir of Knockmore, who decided to bow out from local politics after a long, distinguished career representing the people from the parish of the Backs.

It seems the councillor and the lakesiders have rallied to find a candidate to fill his boots.

Conn Rangers stalwart and local soccer aficionado Joe Faughnan is their selection, receiving support from both the people of Knockmore and from Weir to retain a seat in the council chamber to represent the area.

Faughnan will have an uphill task; Knockmore is a butchered region, with parts in the Swinford local district and Pontoon usurped into Castlebar. Faughnan will need to target the Ardagh, Crossmolina and Moygownagh region to even have a chance to get over the line in June.

Dave Alexander of Fianna Fáil and cathaoirleach Michael Loftus will be most visible in that area of north Mayo. Alexander’s role as a sweeper candidate for the Crossmolina councillor will help to get Loftus back into power. Faughnan, no stranger to tactics on the football field in Mount Falcon, will be hoping for an independent allegiance from fellow non-party councillor, Mark Duffy.

Duffy secured an exceptional vote for a first-time councillor in 2019.

He’ll be the bookies' favourite to top the polls, particularly after a rise in name recognition following the opening for the aforementioned Joe Biden and involvement in social enterprise campaigns viewed to have brought widespread acclaim to the town.

Una Morris, a strong campaigner and committed worker in Rose Conway-Walsh’s offices in the town, will also be in a position to win a seat in Ballina. She has been working on the ground for several years and is present at many events when her party TD needs someone to deputise. Antonio Caffola is also contesting for Sinn Féin in the town.

Morris will also be in the hotly contested Killala region, with Jarlath Munnelly under pressure and Alexander also based in the Round Tower town. Most likely, Morris will emerge ahead of those two due to the decrease in the popularity of establishment parties.

Independents are on the surge across the country, a trend welcomed by prospective politicians on the doorsteps.

Verona Murphy, TD in Wexford, highlighted this by garnering 11 candidates to run throughout the sunny south-east in June, in an affront to Fine Gael in particular, due to Murphy’s history and tactful deployment of Ivan Yates as compère.

I recall attending a fantastic lecture from Liam Alex Heffron last summer during the celebrations for Ballina 2023.

He said: “The people of Ballina are transactional and not party-affiliated.”

He also noted that there’s a culture derived from geography. Nestled between Nephin and the Ox Mountains, with a wide meandering river cutting them off from much of the world for periods of history, undoubtedly, anyone who has spent more than an hour in the town can grasp there is a unique culture in Ballina compared to other towns in the county.

Ballina, despite boasting a cathedral and a historic port, is not a county town. Yet, it has double the number of nightclubs as Castlebar, a 24-hour fuel station, and a surging underground music culture not present elsewhere in Mayo.

Hugh Rouse, a well-known local businessman in the town, will run close. But he’ll be running a similar role to Alexander for Fianna Fáil. Rouse could pocket a seat, and it may be to the cost of party colleague Munnelly.

Weir’s departure guarantees fresh blood in north Mayo. Whether the replacement emerges from the town, Hugh Rouse, Willie Nolan (Independent), or the hinterland via Morris, Faughnan or Alexander, will be too hard to call at this point.

Irish people are remarkably tuned into politics at the moment. The referendum campaigns and the departure of Leo Varadkar have people geared for more political intrigue.

As the weeks drip to June, a few more candidates may yet appear, and alliances formed to surprise many in north Mayo.