World of Politics with Harry McGee

Lesson number one in politics is that nothing stands still and nothing remains the same. It’s like driving a new car out of the forecourt. Within 24 hours, the showroom shine is gone, that fresh car smell is beginning to fade, and the first signs of wear and tear are evident.

Especially if you are in Government. Your potential vote hauls plummets as quickly as the value of a used car.

Even the results of the general election in 2020 can only bring you so far. Éamon Ó Cuív and Ciarán Cannon have both announced they are retiring – and there’s an extra seat in Galway East.

As of now only six candidates have been confirmed for the two constituencies. In Galway West, it’s Hildegarde Naughton and Sean Keyne of Fine Gael; Pauline O’Reilly (Green Party); and Cormac Ó Corcoráin of Aontú.

In Galway East, only Luke Silke, Aontú, and Louis O’Hara have been confirmed so far.

But we know that there are plenty of potential runners and riders and the identity of most of those will be determined in September.

Let’s start with Galway East. The two outgoing incumbents are Seán Canney, Independent, and Anne Rabbitte of Fianna Fáil. Both have been Ministers – Rabbitte is the current Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and has a high national profile.

The Independent TD from Belclare is an astute operator: Canney by name, canny by nature. He topped the poll comfortably in 2020 with 18.5 per cent of the vote and picked up transfers from eliminated candidates from Tuam and surrounding areas in North Galway. The surprise package was Louis O’Hara who came second on the first count picking up over 16 per cent of the vote.

O’Hara, a student at the time, was largely unknown but did well on the back of the huge Sinn Féin surge in that election. His big difficulty was picking up transfers – he picked up 2,500 throughout all the counts compared to over 4,000 for his main rivals.

Pictured: Calm before the storm…Fine Gael candidates, Minister Hildegarde Naughton and Senator Sean Kyne at the recent local election count.