Fine Gael have selected three candidates to run in the four-seater Galway East constituency — and the surprise package is the fact that City Councillor Clodagh Higgins has received the nod to run.

While living in Salthill, the Athenry native has been chosen alongside sitting Cllr Pete Roche from Abbeyknockmoy and popular Portumna auctioneer Niamh Madden in what many delegates in New Inn thought to be a strange convention.

There were many raised eyebrows when party headquarters issued a directive that three candidates be selected when there is the potential for one, or a maximum of two FG seats, up for grabs in the constituency.

Cllr Roche is still the party favourite to take ‘the Ciaran Cannon seat’. Deputy Cannon has decided to quit the Dáil over what he described as “the toxicity in politics”.

More than 400 delegates attended the four-hour long convention in New Inn, with the party directing that three candidates be selected. Five put their names forward, which resulted in a vote taking place.

Apart from Roche, Higgins and Madden, the other contenders were Tuam Branch Secretary, Kabir Ahmmed, and the founder of Foods of Athenry, Siobhan Lawless, but the latter two were unsuccessful. The votes that each of the candidates has not been made public.

South Galway’s Shane Dolphin, who is Galway East FG Chairman, withdrew from the race, perhaps in the knowledge that the party were anxious to get female candidates on the party ticket, but the 24-year-old informed the convention that he would be in contention again in five years’ time.

Apart from receiving considerable support in the Athenry area, Clodagh Higgins also received the backing of delegates in South Galway as she was nominated by Ardrahan-based Cllr PJ Murphy.

Her sister Lorraine Higgins was nominated to the Seanad after standing for the Labour Party in the 2011 General Election in the constituency. She subsequently also contested the 2016 General Eelection, and the 2014 European Elections.

Pete Roche was unsuccessful in the 2020 general election, while Clodagh Higgins and Niamh Madden are newcomers to the county political scene.

Galway East has gone from a three-seater to a four-seater constituency, and sitting Independent TD Sean Canney in Tuam, the poll-topper last time out, is considered a shoo-in for one of the seats.

Fine Gael are looking at one seat with a very outside chance of a second. Fianna Fáil will be running two strong candidates in sitting TD Anne Rabbitte and Cllr Albert Dolan in Monivea, who polled extremely well in the Athenry-Oranmore electoral area back in 2019 and certainly has youth on his side.

Athenry’s Sinn Féin candidate Louis O’Hara, who polled more than 7,100 first preferences in the last general election and narrowly missed out on a seat, will be hoping to improve on this performance.

Pictured: Niamh Madden, Portumna, City Councillor Clodagh Higgins and Cllr Pete Roche, who were selected to run for Fine Gael in Galway East at the party convention recently.