Political World
Bobby Molloy: his legacy endures in Galway West
World of Politics with Harry McGee
Bobby Molloy left the national political stage 14 years ago. Yet his influence on the political worlds he walked away from did not wane, especially in Galway West.
One of the five seats there, now held by Noel Grealish, is a ‘Bobby’ seat. It was nominally a Progressive Democrats seat while that party existed. But the world and its wife knew that the only reason the PDs claimed that seat was because its incumbent in Galway West happened to be Robert Molloy.
Bobby passed away last weekend at the age of 80 after a long and courageous battle against serious illness. Born and bred in Galway City (he went to the Jes) his political domain extended across the constituency into the heart of Connemara, to the northern reaches of Lough Corrib and even into the Achréidh, the parts east of the city that still formed Galway West.
Molloy was a political colossus, straight-talking, down-to-earth, true to his roots. It is hard to imagine now how meteoric his rise was but most of his 37 year political career was spent at the top, or close to it.
He was first elected to the Dáil in 1965 at the age of 29 and three years later became Mayor of Galway at the age of 32.
On a national level, he made his own political preference known very early on. As far back as 1966 he plumped for George Colley over Charlie Haughey – and that suspicion of Haughey would remain throughout the remainder of his political year.
Years later he said he would have backed Lynch (the eventual winner) but he had signalled he had no interest. In terms of the conflict between Haughey and Colley he had a clear preference, which he relayed many years later.
“Colley was the ideal Fianna Fáil person. He believed in all the aims of the party, the peaceful reunification of the country and had a genuine commitment to the language. He had all the good qualities; he was in the Jack Lynch mould but more so.
“You didn’t ever doubt where he stood in regard to the basic principles of the party. But I suppose he wasn’t devious enough to survive in that milieu.”
Those comments told us a lot about Colley but also a lot about Molloy. He was a fluent Irish speaker, loved the language, and also cleaved to the traditional values of Fianna Fail which he felt the likes of Haughey had manipulated and betrayed.
When Haughey, Kevin Boland and Neil Blaney were sacked from Cabinet in 1970, Molloy was promoted and served as Minister for Local Government. He was just 34 and served in the position for three years. When Fianna Fáil returned to power in 1977 (in a landslide) he became Minister for Defence.
But despite the Lynch-Colley axis being in the ascendancy, there was no doubt that Haughey was beginning to muster his forces in preparation for a challenge.
Despite that, Colley was not prepared when Lynch suddenly stepped down in 1979. Molloy later told journalist Stephen Collins: “I didn’t know Jack Lynch was going to resign. In fact, it was Charlie Haughey who told me and asked for my support.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
Academically, politics is described as a science. But in the real world, it’s more of an art – and one of the big decisions a Government has to make is to decide when to call an election.
Will they see out the full term, or will they go early – either to mitigate the damage they will ship, or to secure a victory before things go awry, or the economy takes a dip, or some kind of controversy erupts?
Timing is everything.
And there’s a bit of art to that – not to mention a lot of luck. If you call it early and win big, you’re a genius. If you call it early and lose, you are the political version of the village fool.
Charlie Haughey was a poor judge of the public mood. Twice he called snap elections and on both occasions they backfired. Haughey succeeded Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in late 1979 and did not – technically – have his own mandate. He tried to remedy that by calling an election in 1981. But it recoiled. Ray MacSharry warned him not to hold it during the H Block hunger strikes when republican prisoners were dying each day. He did not listen to the advice and found himself out of office.
After his return to power in 1987, Haughey tired of presiding over a minority government that kept on losing votes in the Oireachtas (the opposition won nine private members motions).
So he called a snap general election and it backfired. Fianna Fáil lost seats and had to broker a coalition deal with the Progressive Democrats and his long-standing political adversary Dessie O’Malley.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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World of Politics with Harry McGee
I was cycling down Mount Street in Dublin on Tuesday. It’s a wide esplanade that links the Grand Canal with Merrion Square. The street is a mixture of fine Georgian buildings and modern office blocks.
About half-way down is the office of the International Protection Office, which deals with asylum seekers who have arrived in the country.
Needless to say, the office has been overwhelmed in the past year. Besides an estimated 80,000 refugees who have arrived from Ukraine, there have been about 20,000 people from other parts of the world who have arrived into Dublin (mostly) claiming asylum.
The numbers peaked around Christmas, but they have been falling a little. In January, more than 1,300 people arrived seeking asylum but the numbers fell back to 831 and 858, in February and March respectively.
They are still huge numbers in a historical context.
So back to my cycle on Tuesday. I knew that some asylum seekers were camping outside the International Protection Office, but I was taken aback by how many. There were six tents lined up on the pavement directly outside. Then on the ramp that led down to the basement carpark on the side of the building, there were about another 20 tents.
It looked like what it was, a refugee camp in the middle of Dublin’s business district. If you pan out from Mount Street, you will find tents here and there in nearby streets and alleys. There were a good few tents in an alleyway off Sandwith Street about 500 metres away.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
God that was a dramatic and historic weekend in England, wasn’t it? So much excitement, so much change, so much hype, so much out with the old and in with the new, and what looks like the coronation of a new leader. Yes, the local elections in Britain were something else weren’t they!
Apologies for not going on about King Charles III but the contract I signed when I became a lifelong republican forbids me to discuss the topic!
I know the British local elections sound a bit boring by comparison, but the results were stunning.
The Conservatives lost nearly 1,000 seats, the British Labour Party gained almost 500 and both the Lib Dems (with 350 gains) and the Greens (gaining over 200) also had amazing days at the polls.
It was Labour’s best day since 2002 but its victory was only partial. The Greens and the Lib Dems actually made gains at the expense of Labour in more affluent areas, and in parts of Britain where there were high numbers of graduates.
It was in the Red Wall constituencies in the North of England where the Labour recovery was strongest. These are working class constituencies with pockets of deprivation where people voted for the Labour Party forever. But all of those constituencies voted for Brexit and then voted for the Tories in the next general election. Labour is now winning back some of those votes.
Local elections are classified as second-tier elections which essentially means – from a national perspective – they are not life-or-death affairs, and not everything turns on them. Of course, it’s really important to have good local representation. But they are not an amazing weather vane for who rules the country.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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