A fait accompli, podcast polarisation and 'wingman' - another typical week in life of Mayo politics
All Ireland Whinger column
A Kilmovee publican pre-empted Mayo County Council's AGM with a premonition that one of their own would take on the chains of office as cathaoirleach.
A poster doing the rounds on social media since the Wednesday night welcomed home the area's "newly elected county chairman" for a night of song, dance and craic at the Four Ways pub, Kilmovee, billed for Friday evening - after the AGM had taken place.
Cathaoirleach John Caulfield had yet to have had a single utterance of support pledged in his favour before the celebration was made public on Facebook, a mere two days ahead of the AGM. The east Mayo pub clearly knew the lay of the land, and was evidently proud of one of their own taking on the chains - but those in opposition on the council would surely have had their goat up seeing the advertisement before a nomination had even been proffered for the Fianna Fáil hopeful.
Were the Carneys Fianna Fáilers?
The much-celebrated homecoming of Canadian PM Mark Carney made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic, but whispers of disquiet have arisen in Westport over the visit.
When the relations come home, it always causes a fuss - is the place spic and span, who'll do the entertaining?
Aughagower put its best foot forward to welcome its own home, but there was palpable anger locally within Fine Gael at what some saw as a Fianna Fáil takeover of the visit.
The Department of the Taoiseach took centre stage for the state visit, as formality demands, but Fine Gael - government partners - were left standing in the shade. Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon was the party's sole representative in Aughagower for the mass, the walkabout of the graveyard and the tree-planting ceremony.
At Sunday evening's civic reception in Westport Town Hall, only three of the county's seven Fine Gael councillors showed - Cllr Ger Deere, Cllr Gerry Coyle and Cllr Michael Burke.
It's believed Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh didn't receive an invitation to the Mass and ancestral visit at Aughagower, frozen out of a historic homecoming on her own patch. All is not well in the Fine Gael Mayo branch - Michael D. McAndrew will have his work cut out, it seems!
Senator off the rails, then back on track
A football injury to his shoulder, a seat on the Oireachtas transport committee and a long-standing love of public transport saw Senator Mark Duffy lead the charge for a special Irish Rail service for Mayo supporters travelling to the All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork.
Recently sidelined from driving by his injury, the Ballina-based Fine Gael senator has form in agitating for improved rail services since his early days as a councillor.
Duffy called on Irish Rail to run a GAA special the moment the Mayo-Cork draw was made on Monday.
By Tuesday, with extra services confirmed for Cork, Kerry and Louth but not Mayo, he went public, branding the snub "frankly unacceptable." Then, on Wednesday, the reversal — Irish Rail confirmed a special service after all, departing Westport at 9.15 a.m. for Heuston, with the return leaving Dublin at 9.10 p.m. The only catch: line issues meant Ballina and Foxford — Duffy's own backyard — were excluded from the outbound leg, with passengers there routed via Castlebar or Claremorris instead.
For the superstitious among the Mayo support, there was a silver lining: at least one leg of the journey passed without bothering the clergy of Foxford. Let's hope they kept schtum on the way home.
Tea anyone?
Not to be outdone by the one-time Mayo footballer and Senator Mark Duffy, the former Derby County academy player Deputy Paul Lawless has confirmed "significant advancement on a cup of tea" returning to parched commuters. Good news comes in twos for Mayo rail travellers, it seems.
Tea and crumpets were unlikely to be top of mind for Mayo supporters roaring on last Saturday — they'll have had the flask, Club Milk bars and ham sangwiches with them anyway. But the absence of hospitality on Irish Rail since Covid has long dominated debate, airtime and column inches among aggrieved passengers and politicos.
It beggars belief that it's now almost six years since the trolley was removed, and only now are we hearing of its potential return, on a trial basis.
Councillor calls for renewed holiday home tax
Fine Gael's Councillor Peter Flynn has re-echoed last year's call for a levy on holiday homes — a proposal swiftly overtaken at the time by an errant email from then-Director of Housing Tom Gilligan, who went further and called for a boycott of such owners.
Undeterred, Councillor Flynn admits the idea isn't popular within his own party, but insists the volume of vacant holiday homes needs to be tackled urgently to ease housing pressure.
Deere's wingman would've been opposed
Laughter erupted at the election of Councillor Cyril Burke as leas-cathaoirleach of Castlebar Municipal District, joining his long-time friend Councillor Ger Deere in the district's top role.
Councillor Donna Sheridan proposed Burke, with Deere seconding the nomination.
When the cathaoirleach put it to the floor and asked if there was anyone else for the role, Councillor Blackie Gavin - sitting in opposition alongside independents Harry Barrett and Michael Kilcoyne - replied: "We would have someone if we knew we had the votes."
It's 4-3 in favour of the FFG block on the district - a block Gavin isn't a member of, despite holding the same party card.
Podcast polarisation
Speaking on the All Ireland Whingers podcast last week, Councillor Peter Flynn called on Deputy Paul Lawless to drop the polarisation and instead channel his concerns through his chamber representative, Councillor Deirdre Lawless, rather than using his national platform to oppose development in the county.
Councillor Flynn is particularly aggrieved at how the co-option of Marie Therese Duffy (FG) was handled by Aontú, contrasting it with how Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil handled his own proposal - seconded with little fanfare - to co-opt Lawless's sister into the chamber. Expect a Lawless response in 3-2-1...