Category: Current Affairs/Politics (Page 3 of 3)

Friday 24th January

They say every day is a school day and that’s the way life should be. Today the Drivetime programme on RTE Radio 1 was broadcasting from Gleeson’s in The Square in Roscommon Town. Philip Boucher Hayes, Mike McCartney and Barry Lenihan (watch out for him) were there to look at the issues and talk to the candidates in Roscommon/East Galway.

One thing I never knew was that Roscommon as a constituency, on it’s own or when they were in with other areas, never returned the same TD’s two elections in a row! So if that trend holds who is in trouble?

In my humble opinion Michael Fitzmaurice and Dennis Naughten will be returned. Fitzmaurice will probably top the poll this time and Naughten can afford to drop thousands of votes and still get elected. But the big battle will be for the final seat.

Sitting TD Eugene Murphy will have his hands full trying to fend off the challenge posed by Cllr Orla Leyden. In the last election the public supported Murphy after Shane Curran was put forward as a candidate. But this time around Leyden will be favourite to take the seat as she has built up a very solid reputation as a hard-working councillor. There won’t be much in it, but Leyden looks stronger.

Newwcomer Aisling Dolan of Fine Gael is expected to do well but she will suffer from a lack of name recognition and the further you go away from the Ballinasloe area the fewer votes she will get. I expect Claire Kerrane of Sinn Fein to increase her vote and there will be a showing for the Greens too.

It is two weeks away from the election and on the national stage Fine Gael will struggle to match their result in 2016 and are set to lose as many as 10 seats. Fianna Fail are set to become the biggest party and they could gain up to 10 seats. Sinn Fein will hold their own and may even gain one or two. The Greens may well end up with 8 seats mainly in the bigger towns and urban areas.

Labour will do well to remain on the figure they are at presently and the slew of independents will once again feature.
More predictions closer to the day, of the poll but at this remove it looks like we will have a huge problem after the election with Government formation and we may be back on the election trail again in six months time .

More anon.

Thursday 23rd January

An Epidemic

On the way back from Galway this evening, I listened to the Drivetime programme with Mary Wilson on RTE Radio 1. On the programme she talked to a GP who deals mainly with addiction. She also talked to an addiction counsellor from Galway City.

What they had to say about the level of cocaine addiction in this country in January 2020 was astonishing and frightening. The GP talked mainly about the huge rise in the number of people who are presenting with serious addiction problems especially over the past 18 months to two years.

However it was the counsellor from Galway who outlined in detail the extent of the problem. Several times he used the word ‘epidemic’ and said he knew and understood the gravity of using that word. He outlined that now cocaine is rampant and easily available in every village and town in Ireland.

Even more frightening was that apparently the use of cocaine is now being factored into almost every celebration such as weddings, parties, christenings as well as the rampant and indiscriminate use of the drug for social purposes.

Both guests said that it was very clear that everyone who is using cocaine was feeding into the gang culture that is growing at an alarming rate in the bigger towns and cities and the associated big rise in violence that we have all seen in recent weeks and months. The people who are using even small amounts of the drug may not make any connection between private use and the bigger problem of the rise in gang crime and what is needed is a massive education programme.

The picture painted by both these people was a very disturbing one and both were agreed that the powers that be and the politicians in particular haven’t a clue as to the extent of the problem. The GP reported that the age profile of those using extends from second level students up to people in their 50’s. The demographic was equally as diverse with people across the community from the unemployed to high flying professionals all using regularly.

The big question is, what will be the implications for our society going forward? It’s not an issue that I hear coming up in election debates.

It should be.