Shell-shocked Labour may return to Higgins dynasty to rebuild Galway West base

Derek Nolan, who topped the poll in 2011, lost the seat held by Michael D Higgins for decades in Galway West.

City-based Nolan’s first preference vote plummeted by around 56% compared with his 7,500 high five years ago, mirroring voters’ desertion of Labour nationally.

The outgoing TD would not be drawn on whether he would run again but party sources indicated that President Michael D Higgins’ daughter, Alice Mary, may be lined-up to challenge for Labour in the constituency at the next election.

Last week it was confirmed that she would be running as an independent candidate in the Seanad elections on the NUI panel.

Ms Higgins has taken unpaid leave of absence from the National Women’s Council of Ireland to contest that election.

Sources in Labour locally say Ms Higgins would be an option for the party as it looks to rebuild after a bruising general election campaign, which came soon after a tough local election in 2014 when Labour lost three seats on Galway City Council.

Speaking after he conceded defeat, long before even the first count at Bailey Allen Hall at NUI Galway, Mr Nolan said it was a sad day for him to lose the seat held for so long by former minister Higgins.

“It is sad that the Michael D tradition and the seat that he carved out of a rock from the 1960s onwards isn’t there anymore. Because it was a principled seat; a very, very principled seat, which I tried to carry on.

“Maybe I was too principled over the last five years and wasn’t ‘showboating’ enough or whatever. That is disappointing. But I think there is a future for the party in Galway West,” he said.

Deputy Nolan said he would be looking for a new job on Monday.

“I have to pay the rent. There are a whole load of practical things I have to look at.

“I’m now searching for a new job. I’m a qualified solicitor and have a Masters in human rights,” he said.

Deputy Nolan said he took the brunt of the criticism levelled at the Government.

“I was in a crowded space. I was being attacked. I was the target of so many, for so long, it became very difficult to cut through the lies and the negativity,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.