Martin gets competitive on whole range of fronts

On Sunday, St Valentine’s Day, at Pearse Stadium, the Galway senior hurlers sent Cork packing, with a convincing six-point win in the National League.

“I think come summertime we’ll be very competitive in championship,” said Cork man, Micheál Martin, who rolled into town a couple of days later.

The Fianna Fáil leader wasn’t exactly showered with love but the hostility towards the party has subsided somewhat since the 2011 general election when it was blamed for the economic collapse.

And with polls indicating the party’s recovery has stabilised, Martin floats the possibility of seat gains in both Galway West, where it once held two seats, and Galway East, a former stronghold.

Fresh from the seven-way leaders’ debate on RTÉ Monday, Martin joined Galway East TD and party frontbench spokesperson on mental health, Colm Keaveney in Tuam on Tuesday, to announce its policy on disabilities. He also visited South Clare, Gort and Headford; and was in Galway City and Connemara Wednesday to launch an Irish language and Gaeltacht policy.

It’s been a hectic campaign. “I’m enjoying it – plenty of green tea. But yeah, it’s non-stop,” he says, admitting he’s surviving on about six hours sleep per night.

Have voters really forgiven Fianna Fáil? “The main thing is people genuinely don’t like this Government. The Government is unpopular – they want a change of Government. It’s not a question about forgiving us.”

In Galway East, flooding is a major issue. “The most important thing to do is to prioritise the flooding issue. That might sound, ‘sure wouldn’t everyone prioritise it’ but they don’t.” He would create a single agency to manage the Shannon, and added: “Flood relief schemes have to be accelerated.”

Capital investment in University Hospital Galway is a priority, too.

“The most urgent capital requirement on the western seaboard is a new A&E in Galway. That won’t solve problems immediately but it certainly would give hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel in terms of a quality A&E. I raised it in the Dáil and forced the Taoiseach to concede that conditions are unacceptable. The Government did not provide any capital funding to build a new A&E, or for a new maternity unit.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.