Ó Cuív to be sole survivor in massive FF vote upheaval

Date Published: 24-Feb-2011

BY FRANK FARRAGHER

THE political landscape in the Galway West constituency looks set to change dramatically in the aftermath of today’s General Election with Fianna Fáil representation odds-on to be cut to one seat, for the first time ever in the recent history of West of Ireland politics.

Despite frantic last minute campaign salvos by the Fianna Fáil pair of Deputy Frank Fahey and Cllr. Michael Crowe, all pundits and bookmakers are predicting that only Minister Éamon Ó Cuív will survive the national backlash against the Government parties.

Most of the attention at Saturday’s count in Leisureland will centre on the battle for the third, fourth and fifth seats in West Galway, with the most intense spats between candidates of the one party or the one political leaning.

Senior Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael party members – as well as the bookies – seem to agree on a consensus that Éamon Ó Cuív, Brian Walsh and one candidate of the left are ‘dead certs’ for election.

There was also agreement that Fine Gael would take a second seat in the constituency, with Fidelma Healy Eames the likely frontrunner here, while independent sitting TD, Noel Grealish is also expected to poll strongly.

Fianna Fáil’s Éamon Ó Cuív – one of the few party candidates rated by national pundits as a ‘certainty’ to hold onto his seat – told the Galway City Tribune that all of the figures indicated that the party would only take one seat in the West Galway constituency.

That battle for the ‘left vote’ in Galway West looks set to be one of the most intriguing of the entire campaign, between Labour’s Derek Nolan and former Labour councillor, Catherine Connolly, now on the Independent ‘left ticket’.

Cllr. Connolly is widely regarded as having run a great campaign with a team of up to 40 people behind her, taking in a large swathe of Connemara in the canvass as well as her city heartland.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.