As Mayo looks to Friday's Fine Gael leadership election and the fortunes of its candidate Enda Kenny, there's general election fever in neighbouring Galway West.
The Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, has dismissed as "nonsense" the Labour Party's promise to exclude all new developments within a kilometre of the shoreline outside urban areas.
Mr O Cuiv has challenged the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, to come to Connemara with his Galway West Labour colleague, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD, and debate his new proposals on regional development.
Under Labour's policy document, published recently, there would be "virtually no further development, no house construction, no schools, no provision of any services on any island", Mr O Cuiv said last night.
"Towns like Cleggan and Roundstone in Connemara would have a total ban on development in them."
He said the proposal displayed "a total lack of understanding" of "the traditional settlement patterns in a lot of coastal communities, particularly on the west coast of Ireland".
He said in areas like west Donegal and Connemara settlement was near the coastline for topographical reasons.
Many landholders would not own property more than a kilometre from the sea and the implementation of Labour's proposal would mean their sons and daughters could not build on family plots.
"The total illogicality and nonsense of this proposal becomes absolutely clear when one considers this proposal in the context of offshore islands, whether connected to the mainland by a bridge - such as Leitir Meallain, Leitir Moir, Gorumna, Eanach Mheain in south Connemara - or the offshore islands without connecting bridges, such as Tory, Arranmore, the Aran Islands, Inishturk, Clare, Inishbofin, Cape Clear and Sherkin."
He said as Minister of State with responsibility for the Gaeltacht and the Islands, and as a west of Ireland representative, he rejected such a "blanket policy".
He has called on the people of rural Ireland, particularly in coastal communities, to "give Labour a thumbs down" to what he describes as "the arrogant nonsense being proposed on their behalf".
Mr O Cuiv's criticism of Labour comes a week after criticism of the Government's establishment of new regional bodies.
Addressing the annual general seminar of the General Council of County Councils in Castlebar, Co Mayo, he deplored the "watering down" of democratic government and local authorities.