Annexing of swathe of Galway East would impact hugely on sitting TD’s

Date Published: {J}

A controversial proposal to include a large portion of Galway East into a three seat constituency with the whole of County Roscommon has been made as part of a submission to a review group established to carry out political reforms.

It is proposed to include Ballinasloe town along with villages like Ballygar, Glynsk and Williamstown in a new Roscommon/East Galway constituency. But such a proposal would draw strong resistance from Galway East politicians and particularly Mountbellew based Deputy Paul Connaughton jnr. who would see a large chunk of his core vote eroded in the process.

There would also be opposition to the county boundary being breached but Independent TD Denis Naughten said that there would be a reduction of one TD if his proposals were adopted.

His submission would mean that Galway West would remain a five seat constituency with a downsized Galway East being reduced to three seats with a new Roscommon/East Galway constituency also having three seats.

Currently Roscommon is included in a constituency with South Leitrim with North Leitrim being included with Sligo – because the county is split in two, it has resulted in Leitrim having no Dail representation.

The former Fine Gael TD said that it would make practical sense for Leitrim not to be divided and aligned with Sligo as part of the one constituency. “The population of Roscommon can only sustain two TDs and that is why I am suggesting that part of Galway East along the River Suck should form part of a three seat constituency”, Deputy Naughten argued.

He said that Roscommon had more association with Galway from a health point of view while he added that Ballinasloe served South Roscommon from an educational and commercial perspective.

Such a move would spell disaster for the reelection prospects of Deputy Connaughton and also seriously jeopardise the chances of independent councillor Timmy Broderick from Kilconnell getting elected having polled so well in the last general election.

It would also mean that Sinn Fein’s Cllr. Dermot Connolly would be standing in a different constituency to last time when he ran in Galway East and received over 3,500 first preferences and is hoping to put in an even stronger bid in the next general election.

There would also be implications for the Kitt political dynasty in the event of Deputy Micheal Kitt or a family member contesting the next general election – a significant portion of the Leas Ceann Comhairle’s vote in last year’s election came from the Ballinasloe area.

Even as it stands, however, two sitting Fine Gael TDs will be looking over their shoulders as a potential new candidate has emerged in the constituency.

Abbeyknockmoy based Cllr. Pete Roche, who was recently announced as an ambassador for Console, confirmed to The Connacht Tribune that he would seriously consider running.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.