Connolly knifes former Galway Labour friends

Independent candidate Catherine Connolly accused her former colleagues in the Labour Party of abandoning their core voters in Galway after she secured over 1,500 first preference votes to be elected in the first count in the West Ward.

Connolly left Labour eight years ago and admitted that she would not have polled nearly as strongly in the six seater electoral area had she stayed with the party.

It was remarkable day for independent candidates in the West Ward as former PD Donal Lyons topped the poll with 1,872 votes to ensure non-party candidates took the first two seats.

Claddagh-based Connolly said she was “humbled” by the mandate 1,513 voters had given her, although her success was “bittersweet” as her sister Colette (Labour) lost her seat in City Central.

“My message to Labour has never changed. I think they sold their soul a long time ago. I think they abandoned the people and I think they would be romping home today had they stood with the people. And I am not trying to be populist. I am asking them to stand up for what matters, public health, public housing, public transport,” she told The Sentinel.

See full election coverage in this week’s Sentinel.