Old guard returns after day of drama in Galway East

The predictability often attached to the Galway East constituency was in danger of being thrown to the four winds – before a late count restored the outgoing order.

For some considerable time at the count centre in Headford, Fianna Fail’s Anne Rabbitte was facing the possibility of losing her seat before party colleague Donagh Killilea rowed in with the massive transfer that ultimately saved her.

It was a day of high drama in the Galway East constituency as the main talking point was the performance of Louis O’Hara of Sinn Fein who polled more than 7,100 first preferences – which, in reality, should have been enough to guarantee him a seat.

The 21 year old son of Athenry-based solicitor Joe O’Hara even exceeded his own expectations in terms of his first preference vote – and, for a long time, was in contention for an unlikely seat.

But the elimination of Donagh Killilea was his undoing as Rabbitte secured her return to the Dáil.

Indeed, there was no appearance from the Portumna politician all day before she ultimately surfaced in the count centre at around 9pm when it was obvious that her Galway East seat was safe.

O’Hara’s strong showing was always going to be the only shock on the cards as Sean Canney topped the poll, as expected, to retain his independent seat in the constituency.

There was an internal battle between Fine Gael’s outgoing Ciaran Cannon and Cllr Pete Roche for the second seat – but the gap between them widened as the counts progressed.

It was a good debut performance for Roche but, equally, it consolidated Cannon’s position as an established Fine Gael representative in the constituency.

Anne Rabbitte’s position was more precarious – and even those close to her were conceding that her seat was in danger.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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