What next for Roscommon: Football or politics?

The start of July and the inter-county season for Roscommon has ended. It was great while it lasted: the sense of expectation, the hope, the dream, and of course, the entertainment. What next? Football or politics? My two great interests. Yes, there are others, but these trump all.

Well, of course, there’s the club championship starting here in Roscommon in August. We all know who we’re playing, and like Roscommon earlier, we all hope that our team—in my case, Éire Óg—performs well and brings success to the parish.

Then, there’s politics. Here in Ireland, we’ve just finished with the local and European elections. We’ve seen the outcomes, the winners, the losers, and next, we look forward to the general election.

Meanwhile, across the water in Britain, change is afoot, and the general expectation is that the Tories are doomed. Across the bigger pond, the Americans are also preparing to vote, and we Irish look on in horror as the great nation that is the United States of America is forced to choose between two far-from-ideal candidates.

Joe Biden appears to be suffering from cognitive issues. The sad thing is that, looking in from afar, Biden appears to have been a successful president. The American economy is strong, the United States is working seamlessly with an ever-closer set of allies in Europe and Asia, and their global financial, military, and intelligence dominance has rarely been clearer. All important to the yanks! Biden has been effective despite the obvious signs of issues. He has also remained a decent man. Compare that with the other fella!

I’m looking forward to autumn when I expect to see the general election campaign in full swing. I have a brother whose birthday is the 15th of November, and I’ve a feeling we might be voting on that day. If we are, lots of things will have happened, and the most obvious of those is that the candidates will have been selected. I’m reliably informed that Fine Gael has issued a directive to its organisations to have their candidates selected by the end of September.

In addition, there’s a budget coming. The consensus is it will be one to get the two parties of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil re-elected. The Greens and their policies are too much bother, many in the two big parties feel. There’s a big lump of money to be distributed to sports clubs via the sports capital programme, and it's due to be announced “in Autumn.” Every parish is expecting something, and if we’re successful, we might feel the need to show our appreciation! In addition, January is an awful month for long queues in hospitals and high trolley numbers—health is a vote-getter. A smart government politician will avoid those issues.

An election in Roscommon will be very interesting. There is a strong feeling that the Naughten name will again appear as a Fine Gael candidate in a general election. Denis has indicated that he’s not seeking re-election, and the general consensus is that if his popular brother John was the Fine Gael candidate, he would be elected. John, of course, knows all about the sacrifice involved in politics, watching his late father and his brother over the years, but maybe that would encourage him as he sees the satisfaction from the role too. He’s proven himself as a very effective councillor since arriving on Roscommon County Council over twenty years ago.

The last local election has got us talking. We’ve seen Fianna Fáil top the poll in the Roscommon Municipal District and hold their three seats. The poll topper Paschal Fitzmaurice, known to have a desire to be a TD, has taken over as the Cathaoirleach of the county and will have a few months to build his profile as a representative of County Roscommon, not just the greater Castlerea area. Fianna Fáil lost a seat in the Boyle Municipal District, home of Senator Murphy. That said, the candidate from Eugene’s own area was the man elected. Last time he ran, he was forced to have a candidate just a few miles away as a running mate. This time, Fianna Fáil will have learned their lesson and will run just one?

Michael Fitzmaurice and his party Independent Ireland are still celebrating the election of their man Ciaran Mullooly to the European Parliament. Nigel Dineen held his seat, and their new man in Boyle, Paul Forde, came close to a seat. It’s generally felt that he should be re-elected.

Sinn Féin had one seat in the last council and returned with one this time. This time they ran three candidates in the Boyle municipal area, which includes sitting TD Claire Kerrane's home area of Tibohine. One of their candidates was also from Tibohine, yet they failed to win that box and came third in the adjoining box of Frenchpark. Does this mean anything? No. Of all the parties, Sinn Féin voters in general elections don’t seem to vote Sinn Féin in local elections. It’s now taken as a fact. In a general election, she’ll win the Tibohine and Frenchpark boxes and won both convincingly last time out. In the last general election, she won the Loughglynn box, but the Sinn Féin candidate only took third in it this local election.

As PJ Mara used to say at the start of elections, “it’s showtime.” Hold on to your hats, they’re under starter’s orders, just waiting for the off!