New Massachusetts Governor has strong Ballinasloe links

An invite to visit Ireland should be issued to the new Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, who has strong ancestral links to Ballinasloe.

That's the view of local Senator Ashling Dolan, who made the appeal in the Senate recently after extending her congratulations to Ms Healey, who is the first woman to be elected to the position in Massachusetts and also one of the first openly gay women candidates to run for, and be elected to office. She defeated her Republican rival, Geoff Diehl, by a margin of a close to two to one in the recent mid-term elections.

A former basketball player in Austria turned civil rights lawyer, Maura Healey grew up on a New Hampshire farm, but has strong links to Ballinasloe. The eldest of five siblings, she was raised by her mother Tracy, a school nurse.

“Her grandmother, Katherine Tracey, who was born in 1897, which is 125 years ago, to Michael Tracey and Mary Hogarty, was a native of Ballinasloe. Governor Healey's paternal grandparents hail from county Kerry and Macroom in county Cork. This election was unique in that it showed the highest number of young people in two or three decades vote and vote for rights for women as well,” Senator Dolan said in the Seanad.

“Governor Healey is changing the status quo. She is a woman who drives change. She has been the state's attorney general since 2014. She brought forward so many lawsuits against the previous administration challenging the Muslim travel ban, protecting immigrant rights and challenging the rolling back of environmental regulations,” she added.

A jubilant Maura Healey (51) had a strong message for her voters following her historic win: “I want to say something to every little girl and every young LGBTQ person out there. I hope tonight shows you that you can be whatever, whoever, you want to be,” she declared at a victory function in Boston. She also received a congratulatory call from President Joe Biden.

“From a Senator from Ballinasloe to a governor of the state of Massachusetts whose grandmother came from Ballinasloe, I ask the Leader of the House to invite Governor Healey to visit Ireland and address Seanad Éireann,” Senator Ashling Dolan urged as she concluded her contribution in the Seanad on Tuesday.