Unravelling of Micheál's leadership has begun

Well, in my opinion, it’s great to be back. For the past while I have been in Mayo University Hospital (MUH) dealing with some medical issues. I’ll not bore you with the details, but it is good to have the opportunity, once again, to say how lucky we are to have such a committed, caring and professional staff in our hospital. 

I know that not all outcomes are the same and some people may have different views, but I can only speak for myself, and we are lucky to have such dedicated people. They work under extreme pressure and I now have the experience of leaving my bed, while awaiting transport home, and seeing my bed washed, redressed, and occupied while I stood in a corridor waiting to be collected. MUH is an extremely busy institution.

Laziness takes many different forms, it seems to me. I have finished with MUH for a month or two now and the boss has been keen to have me back contributing a column, but I have been taking my ease. You have all heard of writers block - that affliction that hits writers now and again and it would be convenient if I could honestly suggest that it was the “block” that prevented me from making a comeback to the WP this past few weeks. No. It was pure unadulterated laziness. I convinced myself that I needed a rest and so deprived my readers of their weekly dose of The Return of Loftus Let Loose. What can I say other than forgive me my indolence?

I was fit enough to make a comeback much earlier than today. The body was feeling fine except for some lower back pain for which I am trying to do some excruciating exercises which involve lying flat out on my back on the floor and gyrating this way and that in the most unedifying and grotesque postures imaginable. But, when you are recovering from an episode of laziness you find ways to make life easier and I have discovered Hello GoodLife Health and Wellbeing which is located here in Newport. They have machines that take the hard work out of exercising while giving users the benefit of stretching and strengthening the muscles that tend to get lazy as we age in life. Ah the wonders of science, technology and engineering!

While I was missing there were momentous events unfolding. New Zealand’s rare green flightless parrot, which was in danger of going the way of the dodo has come out of its slumber (a bout of laziness, perhaps), and has miraculously begun to breed again. Now there’s a bit of good news in this Trump-mad world.

Other events saw Ballina Stephenites, somewhat like the New Zealand Green Parrot, come back from the dead to win the County Final. A hapless and leaderless (following the injury to stalwart Eoghan McLoughlin) Westport had the game won, only to throw it away to the Evan Regan inspired Ballina. In fairness, the championship produced some exciting games but the backward state of Mayo club football was further highlighted when the Stephenites meekly went out of the Connacht championship for the third year running.

It would seem that nobody gives the proverbial damn about the Mayo clubs who face a crisis of player drift to urban centres and find themselves increasingly engaged in fundraising to benefit their community and underage structures to the detriment of player retention and development. And the daily grind of keeping clubs afloat is not helped by the fact that Croke Park - if John P Kean’s assessment in his book  Off the Crossbar is correct - has imposed an unfair penalty on Mayo clubs that will weigh them down for the next thirty years. For Mayo, it is all about Andy Moran and the ridiculous quest for Sam Maguire with not a thought given to the desperate state of the clubs in the county.

When last I was venting in the WP columns I had just withdrawn from the Presidential election (well, my bid for a nomination!) to leave the field clear for Catharine Connolly who duly fulfilled my Nostradamus-like prophesy that she would, in her own quiet understated way, savage the field - not that there was much of a field to savage.

In fairness to Fine Gael they did manage to get a candidate into the field, unlike Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour, the Independents and Aontú. In the run up to the Presidential election, I had adverted to Fianna Fáil’s state of disarray and Micheál Martin’s disconnect with his party and the electorate. But not even my astute political mind could predict the disaster that Micheál visited upon his party and the country, with his nomination of Jim Gavin. No fault of Jim Gavin’s, of course.

Micheál survived the Fianna Fáil investigation into the debacle of the Gavin nomination but only because of the disarray among the Soldiers of Destiny. Soldiers? More like Deserters. It would seem that even Eamon O’Cuív has thrown his hat at any hope that Fianna Fáil might rediscover its soul.

The unravelling of Micheál Martin’s leadership has begun. He has been saved for now simply because Ireland assumes the presidency of the European Union for a six-month spell during the second half of the current year. And it would not look good to our European partners if the Taoiseach were to be shafted at this stage. Mind you, many of our European partners, disappointed at the cowardice of the government position on the Mercusor trade deal, might welcome a Taoiseach who showed a bit of conviction. Fair play to the Healy Rays. There’s two boyos who don’t lack conviction.

And so to our new President. Catherine Connolly pulled a fast one in getting first into the field. The rag-taggle bunch on the left were left with no option but to get behind her nomination. The Soc Dems had nobody who could win while Labour were in the same boat and were left with no choice but to support the lady who left the party and, in effect, left Labour without a seat in Galway West.

Connolly, unwittingly most likely, provided Mary Lou with a fig leaf to cover Sinn Féin’s dilemma going into the election. No more than the Soc Dems and Labour, the Shinners had no candidate who could be guaranteed to win and given the party’s failure to capitalise on the misfortunes of the government and its failure to curb inflation, Mary Lou could not afford to lead Sinn Féin to another electoral defeat. She produced a “game-changer” from her magician’s hat and supported Connolly. She finally had some electoral sun she could bask in when Connolly delivered the goods. And everyone, bar Fianna Fáil, Peadar Tóbín and Maria 'Handbag' Steen, went home happy.

President Connolly has the credentials, the qualifications and the experience to make an excellent President. She will know that while she received over 63% of the first preference votes, the turnout was a measly 45% of the electorate. Her winning margin was the highest ever in any Presidential election. Not that it will bother her, but she even surpassed Michael D’s first preference votes seven years earlier by a considerable distance.

She is, quite rightly, taking her time settling into her role. However, by referencing Palestine in her first address to the Irish people, she has quietly served notice on the government that she will not play the role of lapdog. And while the rest of Europe, if not the world, played dumb in the face of President Trump’s successful invasion of Venezuela and “arrest” of the dictator Maduro, our President made her point by referencing the number of people killed during the invasion. Just because they were Venezuelan or Cuban casualties does not make them any less dead.

Thought for the day 

If you want to improve your memory send someone money - Anon