FG to top polls while Independent Canney on a lively, determined run

CONSTITUENCY PROFILE:IRRESPECTIVE OF the outcome, a little bit of history has already been made in Galway East. Three local heroes – Ulick Burke and Paul Connaughton of Fine Gael and Noel Treacy of Fianna Fáil – have opted to retire from political life.

“A young person’s game . . . the time has come to give the younger generation the opportunity,” Connaughton (66) recently told this newspaper, and sure enough his son Paul jnr has been selected to run in his place.

As with Galway West, Fine Gael has adopted a confident strategy of running four candidates – 29-year-old Connaughton, who has been a councillor since 2009, former Progressive Democrat and Senator Ciarán Cannon, Mayor of Co Galway Jimmy McLearn and Cllr Tom McHugh.

Connaughton is expected to be returned, while Cannon has the blessing of Mount Street party headquarters. However, deputy party leader James Reilly is said to have caused a few eyebrows to rise with his over-enthusiastic endorsement of the Senator at Cannon’s campaign launch earlier this month, virtually ignoring McLearn’s presence on the night.

“Typical of the new Fine Gaelers – all ego, no tact,” one party supporter remarked afterwards, acknowledging that the snub probably won’t have done Killimor-based McLearn any harm at all.

Over in Tuam, Cllr Tom McHugh (FG) has his work cut out. One of the “Tuam Three” as the Connacht Tribune’s Declan Tierney describes him, he faces serious competition from Independent candidate Cllr Seán Canney from Belclare.

Canney is determined to win back the Independent seat secured by his brother-in-law Paddy McHugh (no relation to Cllr Tom) in 2002.

Then there’s Tuam Labour councillor and Siptu official Colm Keaveney, who is running with party colleague Lorraine Higgins.

Keaveney polled just 1,747 first preferences in 2007 and was boosted by transfers from two Independents, Sinn Féin and the Greens.

He will be hoping for a much better first preference vote this time, along with substantial transfers from Higgins.

Canney, whose lively campaign included an appeal to “free the Castlebar one” when Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was appearing to be somewhat media shy, is one of several Independents running in a constituency that has only ever returned two non-party TDs since 1943.

Two fellow councillors, Tim Broderick and Pat Hynes, are also standing, while Ballinasloe-based Sinn Féin councillor Dermot Connolly was unanimously selected to run for his party.

Sitting Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kitt knows what it is like to lose a seat – he’s been there twice before – but his party’s decision to run two, rather than three, candidates, is expected to see him safely home.

Kitt’s running mate is accountant Michael Dolan, a former chairman of Ógra Fianna Fáil, secretary of his cumann for the past two decades and constituency party auditor during several elections.

GALWAY EAST: 4 SEATS

OUTGOING TDs:
Michael Kitt (FF), Noel Treacy (FF), Ulick Burke (FG), Paul Connaughton (FG

CANDIDATES:
Michael Kitt (FF), Michael F Dolan (FF), Paul Connaughton Jr (FG), Ciarán Cannon (FG), Jimmy McLearn (FG), Tom McHugh (FG), Colm Keaveney (Lab), Lorraine Higgins (Lab), Dermot Connolly (SF), Tim Broderick (Ind), Sean Canney (Ind), Pat Hynes (Ind).

LOCAL ISSUES:
Unemployment, and the fact that Ballinasloe has long been overshadowed by Galway and Athlone for investment; flooding and management of the river Shannon, given that large parts of east Galway suffered badly during the heavy rainfall of winter 2009-2010; turf cutting restrictions on blanket bogs.

VERDICT:FF 1, FG 2, Ind 1