THE Labour Party in Galway West is yet to decide on a candidate to run in the next General Election, but the Galway City Tribune understands that three names are currently under consideration.

City Councillor Níall McNelis, who stood as the party’s Dáil candidate in 2020, did not rule out another run when asked this week if he would be seeking the nomination but refused to be drawn on possible opponents.

“I am still fully contemplating running,” he said.

However, it is understood that recently elected City Councillor Helen Ogbu is being considered by the party, having achieved major success in June’s Local Election when she became the first Black councillor ever elected to the City Council.

The City East councillor was fourth home in the six-seat electoral area, taking one of three seats on the local authority for Labour – a significant recovery for the party which had been left with just one seat in the city following the 2019 Local Election.

Another name said to be under consideration is Fergal Landy who stood as a candidate in the Athenry LEA in June but didn’t come close to taking a seat with just under 3% of the vote.

Landy was also a candidate in the European Midlands-North West constituency where he failed to make an impact,   securing just over 1% of the vote.

Labour will be seeking to retake a seat once held for the party by President Michael D Higgins for more than two decades.

Following his retirement from the Dáil in 2011, his successor Derek Nolan topped the poll but five years later, he was ousted by the electorate in a disastrous election for Labour after five years in coalition with Fine Gael.

The party showed little sign of recovery at the last General Election in 2020 when McNelis’s share of the vote was even less than that secured by Nolan five years earlier.

But buoyed by their success in the city at the Local Election, party sources said they were “anxious to put their best foot forward” – a general election is widely expected to be called in the autumn.

“We will be having our selection convention in early September. Some of the possible candidates are due to meet with the party chairperson in the coming days and a date will be fixed after that,” said the party source.

Pictured: Two contenders for the Labour Party nomination to contest the General Election in Galway West, Níall McNelis and Helen Ogbu, celebrating their election to Galway City Council in June.