Galway Fine Gael shines in the shambles

Early in the general election campaign, the opinion polls suggested to sitting TD Seán Kyne that Fine Gael would retain two seats in Galway West.

But when two exit polls were published, showing a significant swing against the party, Deputy Kyne was sweating.

“We were very worried,” he admitted, soon after being returned to Dáil Éireann along with running mate, Senator Hildegarde Naughton.

The duo was elected on the 14th count, without reaching the quota, on the back of John O’Mahony’s transfers. Tight vote management ensured the Mayo TD’s transfers pushed Naughton ahead of Sinn Féin senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh on the final count.

It is the first time ever Fine Gael went into an election in Galway West with two TDs and retained them; and the constituency bucked the national trend of seat losses for the party.

Deputy Kyne, who was first elected in 2011, when after two recounts he was 17 votes ahead of Independent Catherine Connolly, said locally Fine Gael and his team in particular, had a strong campaign.

But the Fine Gael national campaign, he agreed, was a shambles.

Early on Saturday, Deputy Kyne said the leadership of the party had serious questions to answer – Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s “whingers” blooper was one of many mistakes, he said.

Upon his election, he clarified it wasn’t just Kenny but also the FG handlers and senior TDs in the party who were culpable for effectively snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

“Clearly we had a poor national campaign. It never really took hold. We had a lot of mistakes; a lot of issues. When I said leadership made mistakes I meant overall leadership, both elected and unelected. The message just didn’t gel. The campaign was planned for a long period of time; we had focus groups, as I’m sure all parties did.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.