Stroke politics to make a comeback!

The Stroke is making a comeback in Michael Fahy’s bid to win a Dáil seat!

The Galway County Councillor had asked that his nickname ‘Stroke’ no longer be associated with his name. But in possibly one of his greatest strokes of all, which has the electorate talking, the Independent general election candidate for Galway East has resurrected one of the best known names in local politics: Michael ‘Stroke’ Fahy.

“At least every one in the West of Ireland knows me as the Stroke either affectionately or otherwise. The people know me as Stroke. I’ve no shame in any name I’ve ever used. I have a clean pair of shoes,” he said.

The Galway County Councillor of 37 years resurrected the Stroke nickname in newspaper advertisements last week, which read: ‘Stroke Strikes Back’.

He said he brought it back when on February 5, the day the election was called, he wanted to set up a website but the domain Michael Fahy had already been taken. “There’s only one Michael Stroke Fahy,” he smiled.

The Ardrahan-based elected representative explained that the nickname doesn’t have negative connotations and was coined by the former editor of the Connacht Tribune, the late John Cunningham.

In 1979, Fahy was beaten at the Fianna Fáil convention by Cyril Farrell but was later added to the ticket, in a move described by the political analyst as the ‘stroke of the century’.

Later, when he was on the same ticket as former Fianna Fáil minister Frank Fahy, the ‘Stroke’ was retained in order to differentiate between the two Fahys. A large crowd turned up at O’Grady’s of Gort on Friday as Cllr Fahy kick-started his election campaign.

If elected, he pledged to fight for a solution to the flooding in South and East Galway, including building two channels to the sea as drainage and cleaning Dunkellin River. Cllr Fahy, a farmer, also vowed to expose the “biggest scandal in this country”, which was the “cosy cartel” in the beef industry.

“It is a disgrace that a finished animal in Britain and the six counties is making an average of €400 more than in the Republic. This must be exposed. It is hitting the producer, the farmer,” he said.

Reviving and breathing new life into Loughrea and Gort and growing jobs was another top priority, he said.  In keeping with his nickname, Cllr Fahy also managed to pull off coup this week, when he revealed Pope Francis had his constituents in his prayers.

The papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles J. Brown, in a letter of reply to Cllr Fahy this week, said: “I have informed Pope Francis about the flooding. I can assure you of his prayerful concern for all the people who have suffered the effects of this very distressing situation.”

It was a stroke of sorts!