Gilmore visits amid concern that 'Michael D. seat' is no pushover

There may be ‘mixed messages’ coming from the two Galway constituencies about how the Labour campaigns are going, but Eamon Gilmore will be demanding the maximum delivery from both Galway West and East when he visits the areas on Friday.

Fact is that, though we have heard of ‘the Gilmore Gale’ and its potential to boost the Labour vote, the recent slip in the opinion polls, plus some indication from Galway West that Labour is ‘no pushover’ to retain that seat held by Michael D. Higgins for 29 years, will have the Labour strategists seeking to rev-up the performance.

In Galway West, Michael D. has held that seat since 1987, though he was first elected in 1981 and subsequently lost the seat in 1982. In the 2007 General Election Higgins comfortably won the second seat in the five-seater, with the other seats going to Fianna Fail 2 (Eamon O Cuiv and Frank Fahey), Fine Gael 1 (Padraic McCormack) and Noel Grealish (Independent).

The man seeking to replace Michael D. is Labour’s City Councillor Derek Nolan, but there is a very clear message that he is having to having to look over his shoulder at the possibility of Independent Catherine Connolly (former Labour), or even the possibility that one of the Fine Gael runners (Fidelma Healy-Eames, Brian Walsh, Hildegarde Naughton or Sean Kyne), might slip-in, taking the Higgins seat in the late battle for the final two seats.

Let’s not forget that in 1982, after Michael D. Higgins had first won the seat in 1981, it was Fine Gael who took the Labour seat. You can’t rule out a Fine Gael challenge, but my impression is that the one Labour are most worried about is former Labour member Catherine Connolly. Once she was apparently being groomed as a possible successor to Michael D., but that was before there was a falling-out between them.

Connolly has been a long time around now in West Galway politics, she got 2,000 first preferences in 1987, she has been a consistent and persistent voice on areas like the health services for years, including key areas like the closure of beds in hospitals and public nursing homes, such as St. Francis Home in Galway City.

And she has an unusual ally at her disposal in that there is a link-up with Councillor Seosamh O Cuaig and the rump of what I term the old ‘Cumhacht’ vote in Connemara. It’s a link of which even some in Fianna Fail speak of with a degree of respect!

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.