Fine Gael AGM to test just how loud the roar is of their Cannon in Galway

Date Published: {J}

We are coming to the time of year when the political parties hold their Annual General Meetings at all levels – the Fianna Fáil Cumainn get together to choose their officers and delegates in contest which can be fierce locally as people jockey for position.

In Fine Gael, where the contests are just as fierce, they will have the additional feature of watching just how a new Fine Gael TD and Minister of State, Ciaran Cannon, fares out in his bid to get to the heart of Fine Gael.

At the party convention prior to the General Election, Cannon was one of those chasing a nomination and went to a convention with hundreds of delegates where he was roundly beaten into last place with only 20 votes – a mere fistful compared to the likes of Paul Connaughton Jnr, Michael Mullins, Jimmy McClearn and Tom McHugh.

With only 20 votes out of the huge electorate it looked like ‘political curtains’ for the attempt by Cannon who was resented by some ‘true blues’ in Fine Gael as a possible ‘parachute’ candidate being encouraged by the likes of Enda Kenny, Phil Hogan and Frank Flannery.

Cannon, after all, had been a strong contender for the Progressive Democrats at the previous General Election with over 3,000 votes, he was also leader of the PDs at one stage and was the man left in charge of the final winding up of the Progressive Democrats when Noel Grealish went Independent and left Cannon – then a senator – as one of the PDs still surviving.

Some in Fine Gael baulked at the arrival of Cannon and showed it at the convention where Cannon was dismissed with a mere 20 votes from the hundreds of delegates. But they reckoned without the intervention of Kenny, who was entitled to ‘add’ to the ticket and did so deeply annoying the supporters of then Councillor Michael Mullins from Ballinasloe, who went on to advance his political career later by winning a seat in the Seanad.

Cannon during the campaign enlisted the support of no less a person than former Fine Gael Taoiseach John Bruton, who canvassed openly for him, and Cannon also got vital local support in areas such as Ballinasloe from Dr John Barton the cardiologist who has been a high profile figure in the battle to ensure the future of Portiuncula Hospital, in Ballinasloe.

When it came to election time, Cannon brought off one of the political surprises of the entire campaign when he won a seat in a constituency which was now considerably more difficult because of a strong Labour party performance by Colm Keaveney, who surprised many by winning a seat.

The political line up in Galway East had changed almost beyond recognition with the only outgoing TD who stood for election, Micheal Kitt, holding onto his seat and three newcomers – Connaughton and Cannon (FG), and Keaveney (Lab).

It was a tremendous result for Fine Gael but it left a hangover among some about Cannon while Cannon himself began the business of working his organisation into mainstream Fine Gael. Remember, this was the man rejected by convention as a ‘parachute candidate’ and now not alone elected a TD but also appointed a Minister of State in the Education and Training area.

This post meant that Cannon is also a member of the Economic Development Body within Government which meets on key areas and is chaired by the Taoiseach and involves Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Education Minister Ruairí Quinn and is regarded as an extremely important grouping within Government planning.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune,