By the Connacht Tribune election team

The dust may have settled on Election 2024 – but a host of Galway’s newly returned Dáil Deputies face a couple of key weeks in negotiations as they play the role of kingmakers ahead of the formation of the next Government.

The political spotlight will be firmly on Noel Grealish in Galway West, Seán Canney in Galway East and Michael Fitzmaurice – as part of Independent Ireland – in Roscommon/Galway as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael attempt to hammer out a deal to ensure a workable majority.

Seán Canney was first to confirm that he was interested in returning to government, having served as a non-party Minister of State between 2016 and 2020.

“I believe that if you’re in government and you’re constructive in government, you can achieve results,” said the Belclare man.

Michael Fitzmaurice, too, confirmed that his fledgling party would be exploring options for Government – but Independent Ireland would come to the table with non-negotiables for their support.

“We’ve a long document on housing, a long document on immigration, a long document on disabilities, on health, on agriculture, on balanced regional development and planning,” he said.

Of the twelve TDs returned from the three Galway constituencies, five are first-timers – with Galway East showing the biggest change where three of the four are new Deputies.

Two of them, Albert Dolan (26) and Louis O’Hara (27) will be two of the youngest members of the new Dáil; both are past pupils of Presentation College, Athenry, where O’Hara was one year ahead of his now constituency colleague.

Martin Daly’s arrival in Roscommon/Galway means that two of the three TDs for that constituency come from the Galway side of the border, and John Connolly is Galway West’s newcomer, having comfortably outpolled his high-profile FF colleague Gráinne Seoige.

Adding to a tough weekend for the broadcaster was the publication of a fake pornographic image of her, which went viral on WhatsApp during the final stretch of the General Election campaign.

The doctored photograph, seen by this newspaper, included a headshot of TV star Seoige, superimposed on the upper torso of a naked woman, with large breasts exposed. Other than the head, the image is not Seoige, but it purports to be.

It’s understood Fianna Fáil has referred the image to Gardaí, and believe it breaches the new Harmful Communications Act. Sources in Fianna Fáil said people who forwarded the image on WhatsApp could be guilty of an offence.

Senior members of the party in Galway said Seoige was hurt by the circulation of the image, and they said it highlighted the toxicity of modern politics, and the misogyny female candidates faced, which was making it harder to attract women.

Don’t miss full coverage of the election in Galway West, Galway East and Roscommon/Galway over eleven pages in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.