"Gael Force" in earnest when Enda Kenny was joined this afternoon at the Square, Millstreet by Fine Gael's Aine Collins, Michael Creed and Derry Canty.

With lots of national media present, Enda Kenny, Fine Gael Leader, delivered a rousing speech in front of the Wallis Arms Hotel, Millstreet where a large group of supporters warmly applauded his inspiring words.   Enda shook hands with many people adding lots of witty and wise comments.   Joanne O’Riordan asked a number of continue reading…

Áine Collins is profiled on Cork’s RedFM 104-106Fm under Meet the Candidates.

Aine brings a distinctive voice in her quest to take a second seat for Fine Gael in Cork North-West. Married to Paul, they have three children and live in Laught, Rathcoole — about four miles from Millstreet. Aine is a qualified accountant and auditor with 20 years experience in business development and management consultancy having run her own practice and worked with start up and established companies. continue reading…

To get a view of the prevailing mood out there, we’d like to know who you might vote for in the coming election in the Cork North West Constituency. There are three seats, so you can  choose up to three candidates … and it’s totally anonymous also. [Note: voting is closed]

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Pictured at the official launch of Fine Gael's Áine Collins Campaign in the Wallis Arms Hotel, Millstreet on Monday, 31st Jan. 2011 where a very large audience was in attendance. From left: Gerry Kelly, Seán Kelly (MEP), Áine Collins, Gerard Murphy, Noel Buckley and Patrick Buckley.

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Local FG candidate Áine Collins is launching her campaign next Monday night 31st January at 8pm in the Wallis Arms. MEP Seán Kelly will be in attendance. All are welcome to go along and  find out more about her and what she stands for.

On Twitter she asks: “what issues are important to you, the people of Cork North West?“. Contact Áine on Twitter, Facebook, by email:<email>

It’s been a strange day on the politics front. This morning out sitting TD and Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe was being praised in the Irish Independent as being top dog in Munster, and quoted in today’s Examiner that he was going to contest the coming election. By lunch time news broke that he was quitting politics altogether after yesterday denying that he was considering quitting. (Locals knew there was something up when the Fianna Fáil convention in Millstreet last Monday to select candidates was cancelled at short notice).

Maybe he realised like the rest of the cabinet that since the chance of him getting into office the next time around was getting slimmer as the days went by and continue reading…

Ann Foley, a single mother of one and a postgraduate student in International Relations at UCC, from Newmarket, will be officially announced this week as a People Before Profit candidate for the Cork North West constituency.

The newly formed United Left Alliance (ULA) will hold a meeting in Cork this week to launch its pre-election policies, in the Metropole Hotel, McCurtain Street, Wednesday 12th at 7.30pm.  The Alliance is set to contest more than 20 constituencies in the upcoming general election.  (The United Left Alliance is an amalgamation of the Socialist Party, People Before Profit Alliance, and Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

Ms Foley said the alternative being offered by Fine Gael, and Labour is the same as what Fianna Fail have been pursuing, and she believes continue reading…

When I was young I heard him speak in Millstreet
You might say then his better days were gone
But to the Millstreet Fianna Fail supporters
Their hero was the man known as Big Con.
.
And though he hailed from Derrinagree Con Meaney
They claimed him for their own in Millstreet Town
In Duhallow the man became a legend
And he was well worthy of his renown.

continue reading…

A lot of men in my young years in Millstreet did like their sports and did enjoy their grog
And they shlauned peat to warm their family homes in Winter in early Summer in Gneeves mountain bog
Around their fire grates on nights in the depths of Winter current affairs were discussed and other things they did recall
Such as politics and sporting greats and of great teams and games of hurling and gaelic football
They told stories of the War of Independence in Sliabh Luachra and Duhallow such as the ambush at Tureengarriffe Glen
Of a battle celebrated and often written about of the bravery of Sean Moylan and his men continue reading…

… Cork NW is a very split constituency. There is a respectable Labour vote in Macroom town and Ballincollig/Ovens has a lot of swing voters who will occasionally go Labour. However, the north of the constituency around Millstreet and Kanturk votes as though the civil war is still on…

Taken from the the discussion boards of the Peoples Republic of Cork website, where the discussion is warming up with all the current political turmoil in the country.

Indeed the ability to laugh at ourselves may be the only thing that can save us from losing our minds this time around!

At a well attended convention last Sunday in Millstreet, Ballincollig based Des O Grady was selected as the Sinn Féin candidate to contest the next general election in Cork NW.

Afterwards, he told the convention: “I am proud and honoured to be chosen to represent Sinn Féin in the next general election. The majority of this constituency was represented by Terence MacSwiney in the first Dáil established in 1918. I hope we can summon up some of the courage and principle that animated his generation as we struggle to overcome our difficulties today. The country faces a deep economic crisis, made worse by the continue reading…

Paddy McCarthy

Volunteer Paddy McCarthy
90th Anniversary Commemoration

Assemble: Clara Road, Millstreet.
Parade up Main Street and return to Mill Lane
MacCurtain/McSwiney RFB In Attendance
2.00pm Sunday 31st Oct.
Speaker: Bandon Sinn Féin Cllr. Rachel McCarthy
Fáilte Roimh Cách / All Welcome

Paddy McCarthy (8/Feb/1896-22/Nov/1920)

The late Paddy McCarthy was born in Meelin and reared in Freemount, not far from Millstreet. He became an active member of Óglaigh na hÉireann following the 1916 Easter Rising.
On May 8, 1918 he was charged with a gun offence and imprisoned for 18 months.
He was held in Belfast and in Manchester where he managed to escape in October 1919.
He took part in the capture of Mallow Barracks in September continue reading…

Áine Collins

God only knows when the next General Election may happen, but the papers are saying that Áine Collins will be on the voting card for FG in the next election and looks like getting in at the expense of FF:

“Newmarket-based Gerard Murphy, who contested the 2007 election for Fine Gael in the north of the constituency, has already withdrawn his name from the race. Áine Collins, who runs a financial services company in Millstreet, is the front-runner to win the party’s nomination for a candidate in the north of the constituency. A Fine Gael insider said that she would offer voters a fresh perspective.” – Evening Echo

“With just under 50 per cent of the vote, the FG team of Michael Creed and Áine Collins are sure of two seats.” – Irish Independent

Michael Creed TD warned the Minister for Health Mary Harney of the dire consequences of closing Community Hospitals in Macroom, Kanturk, Millstreet and Dunmanway.  Speaking during a Dáil debate on Health Deputy Creed said:

Community-based medical services can thwart the onward march to acute hospital facilities if properly structured and delivered. A key component of that is community nursing facilities – the district hospitals. In my constituency, there is Kanturk, Millstreet and Macroom District Hospitals and on the fringes of my constituency, there is Dunmanway District Hospital. I see a threat hanging over those district hospitals. When concluding the debate, I would like the Minister to reassure me about their future.

read the full speech on Michael Creed’s blog

… Tuesday was one hell of a day for Minister Batt O’Keeffe. First, he got promoted in the Cabinet reshuffle. Then he was buttonholed by the irate wife of a snubbed back-bencher. And finally, he attended a dinner organised by the class of 1963 from St Brendan’s College, Killarney.

Some people might remember 1963 as the year JFK was assassinated. But in Batt’s eyes, 1963 will forever be remembered as the year St Brendan’s lost the All-Ireland schools’ final by a point to St Mel’s of Longford.

Despite being the only Corkman on the team, Batt was the captain, displaying early leadership skills.

“I’m in the diocese of Kerry, but from the village of Cullen, which is near Millstreet on the Cork border,” he explains.

“I tried to twin Cullen with Tokyo when I was in Japan last week.”

Tuesday’s knees-up was arranged long ago and it was pure coincidence that it fell on the night of Batt’s promotion. His classmates and team-mates …

this is an extract from an article in todays Irish Times