Auntie war pot-shot hits Trevor ‘The Plastic Shinner’

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Niall Farrell, aside from his political activism, is probably best known for receiving death threats. He is a leading member of the Galway Alliance Against War. And father of Galway City Councillor, Mairéad Farrell of Sinn Féin.

Niall is anti-war. What he wasn’t widely known as, until recently, is Auntie War.

But Niall was forced to ‘out’ himself as the poster behind the Auntie War Facebook page after getting entangled in an unseemly spat with Sinn Féin Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh.

Trevor is the Shinners’ general election candidate in Galway West.

We suspect Niall would probably prefer if his daughter, Mairéad, was on the ticket as well as – or indeed instead of – Trevor.

That might explain why Niall aimed pot-shots at Trevor on social media recently.

Trevor, who will be relying on Mairéad’s city supporters to win a Dáil seat, posted something online opposing water charges.

It infuriated Auntie War, aka Niall Farrell. He suggested that it was a “bit of a joke” that Trevor was opposing Irish Water, and claimed that 18 months ago he was “highly critical” of Mairéad for supporting the Galway Right2Water campaign.

For good measure, Auntie War appeared to be attempting to ignite an internal war in SF when he labelled Trevor a “typical slippery” politician.

Trevor replied the suggestion was “nonsense”, and added that it “looks like you are looking to cause trouble rather than be Auntie War!”

Trevor added that that is why “you need to hide behind a pseudonym”.

That’s when Niall Farrell, puce with rage, outed himself as Mairéad’s father, and accused Trevor of “attacking” her.

He called Trevor a “typical Labour opportunist” who “jumped on the band wagon” once the Right2Water campaign gathered support. Trevor also “jumped on the Sinn Féin bandwagon”, he said.

Potty-mouthed Niall also said a few other things about Trevor, and called him names, which we’ll not repeat here for fear of giving our libel lawyers a heart attack.

Mellows rises again  – as a woman

Meanwhile, things mustn’t be going to well for the Shinners out in Galway East, where the party’s strategy is to compare its candidate to Republican giant, Liam Mellows.

As one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter    Rising, Mellows won a seat for Sinn Féin         in the constituency in 1918, and again in    1921.

“The most obvious difference between Liam Mellows and myself is that I am a woman,” said Annemarie Roche, in her general election launch speech last week in Loughrea.

That revelation followed her listing the similarities.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.