And they’re off!
Well okay, many of the candidates in the Dublin Central and Galway West byelections have been pounding pavements and knocking on doors for weeks if not longer.
But the full field of candidates is now known and can be found here.
They are officially in the race, and we are just three weeks away from the May 22nd polling day.
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The byelections will be fascinating contests to watch, not least to see how veteran criminal Gerry “The Monk” Hutch fares in Dublin Central – having narrowly missed out on a Dáil seat in the 2024 general election.
A byelection is a very different proposition, of course, and he will need a much greater vote than he received last time around if he is to be elected.
There will also be much focus on whether Sinn Féin can win the seat with its candidate, councillor Janice Boylan, given that the constituency is party leader Mary Lou McDonald’s backyard.
Meanwhile, the big question in Galway West is whether a candidate can triumph on the crest of the wave of apparent left-wing unity that was generated by the successful Áras campaign of the constituency’s former TD, President Catherine Connolly. Her election is, of course, the reason for the vacant Dáil seat there.
There is a challenge to this from the right, with Independent Ireland’s candidate Noel Thomas – a former Fianna Fáil councillor – being seen as a strong contender in the wake of last month’s fuel protests.
Political Editor Pat Leahy goes into much more detail in a piece published today headlined Danger for party leaders in Dublin Central and Galway West byelections: seven things to watch.
Meanwhile, Harry McGee was out on the election trail in Dublin Central with rival candidates and city councillors Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats and John Stephens of Fianna Fáil.
In case you missed it, Conor Gallagher and Enda O’Dowd travelled to Lanzarote as part of an examination of Gerry Hutch’s assets and interviewed him there.
He was not inclined to offer details of what properties he owns until such time as he is elected.
Gallagher’s news story is here and an excellent feature including video from O’Dowd is here.
Any other business?
Perhaps the most significant development politics-wise this week was the emergence of the plan for State-funded accommodation for Ukrainian refugees to be wound down over the next year.
As Jack Horgan-Jones reported, the State is to terminate more than 500 contracts with hotels and other accommodation housing more than 16,000 Ukrainian refugees.
The State has been attempting to wean itself off hotels being used to house Ukrainians for several years, with complaints from the tourism sector and local communities about being deprived of capacity.
Government sources said provisions would be made to accommodate highly vulnerable people and those with “barriers to independence”.
Today, Ellen O’Riordan details how support groups have warned that the move to cut State accommodation supports for Ukrainians could trigger a wave of asylum applications from people who feel they have no alternative.
On other matters, last Sunday former Fianna Fáil TD Jim Glennon confirmed he was the politician who offered a character reference for Daniel Ramamoorthy, who was convicted of sexually exploiting a child. Glennon apologised for writing the reference, which he said was “naive” and “wrong”. Ellen Coyne reports here.
Harry McGee profiled Glennon for a piece on Monday. On the opinion pages on Wednesday, Kathy Sheridan questioned whether character references serve any good in a court system bound by rules of evidence and said the revelation that Glennon wrote a character reference for a convicted child abuser should prompt a wider discussion.
Internationally, last weekend there was a third assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump. Our Washington correspondent Keith Duggan writes about it here.
The UK’s King Charles III wrapped up a Stateside visit. We’re carrying an article from The New York Times on what the royal dinner guest lists says about Trump’s America.
Oh, and the Trump administration has today declared hostilities in the Iran war have been “terminated”. You can find the latest on this in our Live Blog.
