Tweet finally reveals Fine Gael’s worst kept secret

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

Delighted to be at Fine Gael Galway West/South Mayo constituency AGM,” tweeted John O’Mahony on Monday night before thanking the other three national parliamentarians in the constituency – Sean Kyne, Brian Walsh and Hildegarde Naughton for the ‘great welcome’.

In the background we could hear the banjo music from Deliverance being played – and maybe that welcome from the two incumbent TDs and one senator was gritted teeth rather than a beaming smile.

In any instance after almost two years of deliberation and will he won’t he, O’Mahony has done the inevitable and switched constituency.

Indeed the writing has been on the wall for this move since the boundaries were redrawn and a swathe of South Mayo – and 10,000 votes – moved south to Galway West. Among the areas affected were Ballinrobe, the Neale, Garrymore, and Cong.

If O’Mahony had stayed in Mayo he would have had an uphill struggle, to put it mildly. Of the four Fine Gael candidates he had the least amount of first preference votes and took the last of the five seats.

Mayo is being reduced to a four-seater and the two strongest Fine Gael candidates are – obviously – Taoiseach Enda Kenny and that formidable vote machine Michael Ring.

Because of the new gender balance rules, it was always likely that Michelle Mulherin would get the nod over O’Mahony if a three candidate strategy was being pursued.

If you look at the other three, all are based in big towns geographically spread; Kenny is based in Castlebar, Ring is in Westport and Mulherin is in Ballina.

O’Mahony inherited the Jim Higgins territory of East and South Mayo. He lives in Ballaghdereen on the border with Roscommon and none of the towns in that area are huge: Charlestown, Ballinrobe, Shrule and Ballyhaunis.

Indeed, when Fianna Fáil lost out there, it was the candidate in that area – the late John Carthy – who lost out.

Even with three candidates, I doubt if Fine Gael can win more than two seats in Mayo.

O’Mahony was never happy about the change. Why would he be? In that Dáíl speech in 2013, he complained that as the Constituency Commission had ignored the guideline to respect county borders.

“The outcome in the case of the new Galway West constituency is anything but the sharing of a contiguous border. I have tremendous respect for people in both Mayo and Galway, as many will know, but in the case of all counties in Connacht borders have been either breached or additional territory has been added. For political reform to be effective, it must be streamlined…

“If a constituent needs assistance in dealing with an issue to do with road resurfacing or pot holes, the local councillor will deal with the problem.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.