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Harry Mcgee

Harry Mcgee

Connacht Tribune

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Family dynasties no longer guarantee a safe Dáil seat

World of Politics with Harry McGee Charlie Flanagan announced this week that he’s stepping down from politics – and if Fine Gael keeps on...

previous day 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Ploughing Festival places agri sector on centre stage

World of Politics with Harry McGee Every September around this time, I go out to the shed and rummage around until I find a pair of wellington boots....

21.09.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Best-laid political plans can fall foul of think-in

World of Politics with Harry McGee The think-in is a relatively new phenomenon in the political landscape. If memory serves me correctly, they...

14.09.2023 20

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Putting a number on the Sinn Féin seat bounce

World of Politics with Harry McGee Richard Bruton was not the first victim of the constituency changes. His decision not to contest the election had...

07.09.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Barrett full of bullion but NP far from political gold

World of Politics with Harry McGee I was away when one of the heist stories of the summer broke – the alleged removal of gold bullion from a vault...

31.08.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Something doesn’t add up in execution of Tubridy axe

World of Politics with Harry McGee When the Democratic Unionist Party was coming under pressure to do the unthinkable and go into Government with...

24.08.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Budget build-up shortens the political silly season

World of Politics with Harry McGee The annual run-in to the Budget is getting longer and longer; the media equivalent of adverts for Christmas...

17.08.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Ireland has been having the wrong neutrality debate

In early 2018 Strava published a “global heat map” showing all the places in the world where users of smartwatches who used its GPS-based fitness...

12.08.2023 10

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Sinn Féin to benefit most from constituency reform

World of Politics with Harry McGee At the end of this month, the newly-established Electoral Commission will announce one of the most radical...

10.08.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Directly-elected Mayors may finally break the local logjam

World of Politics with Harry McGee There have been moments in the past when the Mayor of Galway has made national headlines – and for vastly...

03.08.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Directly-elected Mayors may finally break the local logjam

World of Politics with Harry McGee There have been moments in the past when the Mayor of Galway has made national headlines – and for vastly...

03.08.2023 2

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Micheál Martin quietly shows the way to nine political lives

World of Politics with Harry McGee The inter-county goalkeeper who is most reminiscent of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin might not actually be...

27.07.2023 20

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Times are a-changing on the public transport front

World of Politics with Harry McGee There was a documentary on TG4 a good while ago about the Honda 50 and how it became an icon in Ireland between...

21.07.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Tubs mimics Galway hurlers to fade after whirlwind start

World of Politics with Harry McGee Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly’s performance before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee was a little...

21.07.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

RTÉ’s payments scandal was an explosion waiting to happen

World of Politics with Harry McGee The Ryan Tubridy pay scandal has become the domestic story of the summer, giving politics a celebrity dimension....

06.07.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Forum was an exercise in democracy, not a stitch-up

World of Politics with Harry McGee I was in Galway on Friday for the second day of the Consultative Forum on International Security, organised by the...

29.06.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Michael D is shaking off the shackles as end draws near

World of Politics with Harry McGee Michael D Higgins has two years or so left of his presidency, and for an octogenarian politician, he shows little...

22.06.2023 8

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Revamping Euro constituencies can make them more relevant

World of Politics with Harry McGee A strange thing happens to people who contest European elections. They are forgotten about – whether they win or...

15.06.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Will Varadkar walk away from the political frontline?

World of Politics with Harry McGee Leo Varadkar once said that he would retire from politics at the age of 50. When he said it, my reaction was:...

08.06.2023 20

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Sensational story that’s lost none of its lustre in 40 years

World of Politics with Harry McGee I remember walking down the laneway at the back of our house in Glenard when I was 18, my head full of the...

01.06.2023 20

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

The fine art of good timing when it comes to elections

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...

25.05.2023 20

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Inch protest arguments are more subtle than Oughterard

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...

18.05.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Sinn Féin hunt for seats in ‘locals’ across Galway

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...

11.05.2023 30

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

President’s weekend words prove fire still burns within

World of Politics with Harry McGee When I think of the role of Irish Presidents, what comes to mind is a line from Seamus Heaney’s epic poem Station...

04.05.2023 7

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Collins feels the heat after solid hurling from the Ditch

World of Politics with Harry McGee The Ditch is an unusual creature on the Irish media landscape. It’s an investigative website which has...

27.04.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

How three seismic events play out in political world

World of Politics with Harry McGee Eaten bread is soon forgotten – and so are political ‘events’, whether they are hugely positive or critically...

20.04.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Extra Euro seat offers chance to redraw the constituencies

World of Politics with Harry McGee In the early days of the European Economic Community, Ireland had 22 MEPs. When we first joined in 1973, they were...

13.04.2023 6

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Harry McGee: What does Sinn Féin’s version of change look like?

Sinn Féin has positioned itself as a classic populist, left-wing alternative to the establishment parties. Across developed democracies in Europe,...

08.04.2023 9

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Trump in Presidential spotlight – but for all the wrong reasons

World of Politics with Harry McGee Three US presidents are featured in the news cycle this week, one of them for very different reasons. The first is...

06.04.2023 3

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Government is no place to rebuild political profile

World of Politics with Harry McGee For a period of 30 years between 1981 and 2016 – with a small break in the eighties – Labour held a seat in...

30.03.2023 5

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Opposition waits to see effect of fall-out to end of eviction ban

World of Politics with Harry McGee An Opposition party is a bit like an invading army trying to surmount the defences of a seemingly impregnable...

23.03.2023 8

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Those political swings often lead to a tumble

World of Politics with Harry McGee The last local elections in May 2019 were dominated by the story of a big swing; nothing to do with the voting...

16.03.2023 7

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Strong cross-party support for expansion of State scheme to buy properties from landlords

There is strong cross-party support for the significant expansion of a scheme where the State buys homes from landlords to avoid a sudden spike in...

12.03.2023 9

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Sinn Féin gets one shot at changing political narrative

World of Politics with Harry McGee In 1980s Galway, we teenagers thought we were different as we listened to U2, wore Smiths badges on our lapels, and...

09.03.2023 8

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Varadkar reveals deficit of 250,000 homes in State, admitting crisis will take time to solve

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said there is a deficit of 250,000 homes in the country at present and accepted it will take a long time to resolve the...

09.03.2023 50

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Take polls with a pinch of salt but don’t ignore them

World of Politics with Harry McGee Opinion polls are like popcorn; nothing really too substantial or nutritious in there, but you can’t help...

02.03.2023 6

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Harassment of women TDs is ‘impacting on our democracy’, meeting hears

A Government Minister who has been subjected to personal online sexual abuse has said “bullies” responsible for harassing women TDs are having a...

23.02.2023 30

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Rate of attrition illustrates impact of political abuse

World of Politics with Harry McGee The life of a politician is not an easy one, especially if you are a rural TD. Your life is spent traipsing up and...

23.02.2023 9

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Ex-minister Robert Troy declares more properties owned in latest Dáil register of interests

Former minister of state Robert Troy who resigned last year after failing to fully declare his interests, has included his ownership of two additional...

22.02.2023 9

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Healy-Rae contract for supply of refugee accommodation included in TDs’ register

The Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae has included a contract for supply of accommodation to Ukrainian refugees in his returns to the Register of Interests...

22.02.2023 20

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

The civil war within Inland Fisheries Ireland

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has been in the throes of a civil war for 18 months, with divisions between the board and the executive, differences of...

22.02.2023 10

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Far-right using digital platforms to spread anti-immigrant messages, monitoring group says

A group which monitors the activities of far-right groups in Ireland has said that digital platforms have become the key mechanism for driving...

21.02.2023 50

The Irish Times

Harry Mcgee

Electoral Commission faces an impossible boundary task

World of Politics with Harry McGee The 1937 Constitution is in many ways a fine document, but it is a creature of its time. There are loads of glaring...

16.02.2023 20

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Ukrainian crisis exposes chasms in housing crisis

World of Politics with Harry McGee It’s now 25 years ago since I first reported on the tensions associated with people arriving to reside in Ireland...

09.02.2023 6

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Changes afoot when Electoral Commission begins its work

World of Politics with Harry McGee Once upon a time there was a constituency called Galway South. And until 1961 there was the constituency of Galway...

02.02.2023 10

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Asylum seeker numbers will be a political pinchpoint again in 2023

World of Politics with Harry McGee Once Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago, the Government prepared for a large number of refugees to arrive in...

26.01.2023 5

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Donohoe discovers it’s the little things that trip you every time

World of Politics with Harry McGee When the law finally caught up with Al Capone, it was not for organised crime, or for boot-legging – it was for...

19.01.2023 6

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Two Frank Fahys – sharing a name but not ideologies

World of Politics with Harry McGee This is the story of two Fahys from East Galway. Both were involved in politics. One was a priest; the other a...

12.01.2023 9

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Ten political pointers and the perennial sporting question

World of Politics with Harry McGee As we begin a new year here are ten things to look out for in politics in 2023 – with the perennial sporting...

05.01.2023 9

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

Reflections on a year which was bookended by tragedies

World of Politics with Harry McGee Journalism is not the most upbeat profession in the world. Our stock-in-trade is bad news – of the...

29.12.2022 9

Connacht Tribune

Harry Mcgee

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