Has Jackie Healy-Rae an eye on a Munster Euro seat? Certainly the thought occurred to those who encountered him in Cork last weekend. Sinn Fein MP Gerry Adams attracted a crowd of about 1,000 to the Kilmichael commemoration near Macroom where Tom Barry's flying column ambushed British auxiliaries in 1920. As the occasion broke up and Adams was being mobbed by autograph-hunters, J.H.R. appeared on the horizon on his way to the races in west Cork. Forced to slow down, he made the most of the opportunity by pressing the flesh, although he did suffer a slagging about encroaching on P.J. Sheehan's territory. And what's more, Jackie was driving a 1997 C car.
Was it wishful thinking on Sinn Fein's part? Adams called the four republican prisoners shot as a reprisal by the Free State government on December 8th, 1922 by their Christian names: Rory (O'Connor), Liam Mellowes, Dick (Barrett) and Joe (McKelvey). The press release from the Belfast headquarters referred to them as Rory Quinn, Liam Mellowes etc.
