Two neighbours in Corrib Park in Galway come out to their gardens to say hello to Mike Cubbard. One of them, Eileen, was one of the first residents of this large local authority estate in the Westside built in 1972. Recalling the house move half a century ago, Eileen says it was at the edge of city back them.
“When I came out here my friends called me a country hawk,” says Eileen. “There were no houses or nothing built around here.”
Her neighbour, standing outside his door, nods his head. “Lean times in them years, I can tell ya,” he says.
Today, Corrib Park, with its solid three-bedroom houses, is an inner suburb of the city and its houses command high prices. Within 500m are shopping centres, a large library, the St Michael’s GAA pitch, a running track and soccer pitches. As we walk around, Cubbard points out the different facilities and amenities (a basketball court, an astro, a landscaped green area) in which he has had a direct input.
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This, of course, is his bailiwick. He’s from nearby Camillaun Park. He first became interested in politics when at the age of 22 he was horrified to read about plans to put a huge pylon in the nearby park. First elected as a councillor in 2014, he has been mayor of Galway three times and has stood in general elections. In November 2024 he got a respectable 2,200 first preferences.
Cubbard’s political reputation was built on his advocacy for the Westside. During his canvass through Corrib Park, that hyperlocal affinity is obvious. It’s not just that everybody knows him, it’s also the sense of him being “their politician”.
A tall and energetic man with a short, neat beard, Cubbard has a day job with Croí, the West of Ireland heart foundation. He has a small team of canvassers, most of them local. They include his 15-year-old son, Ryan, a Junior Certificate student who is responsible for his quirky social media posts.
At a doorway, a woman tells him she would be sorry to see him go if he were to be elected.
“Sure everybody else that’s standing we don’t know anything about them. All we know is their faces on the posters.”
Cubbard laughs. “I will never get out of local politics that way,” he replies. “As an Independent, I can nominate someone to replace me and they will work extremely hard socially.”
That’s his electoral weakness but it’s also his strength. He has built up a strong local base but extending it to the constituency will take time. Unlike most of the other 16 candidates in the race Cubbard does not easily fit into a category of left and right. He says he is unapologetically in the middle, a pragmatic politician willing to work with anybody and everybody, and his focus will be wholly on the constituency.
“I put Galway first in every conversation because we have been lacking in funding in so many areas,” he says.
“I don’t think electing a party candidate is the right answer. Yeah. People I meet on the doors, in Connemara or here in the city or on the eastern side of the constituency, they are tired of party politics.
“They want someone who can work with them and for them. I promise people I will put Galway first in every decision I make.”
Over the past decade he has built up his profile and vote, and wants people to take a punt. The Irish Times/TG4 poll puts him back in the field but he thinks he will outperform the poll. His time to break into national politics may come but you sense that it won’t be this weekend.
