Fine Gael will pull out all the stops in quest for bye-election victory
Fine Gael plans to flood Galway West with its frontbench heavy hitters in the coming three months as it targets a bye-election win for Senator Seán Kyne.
Tánaiste and party leader Simon Harris, and Fine Gael's senior and junior ministers, will make multiple visits to the constituency between now and polling day in May to boost the bye-election campaign of the Leader of the Seanad from Maigh Cuilinn.
It’s understood any positive announcements from Government departments headed by a Fine Gael minister will, where possible, be done in Galway West to provide maximum benefit to Senator Kyne in the run-up to polling day.
“The entire Fine Gael organisation will get behind Seán as we work hard to win back this Dáil seat,” said Simon Harris.
Senator Kyne, a former Government chief whip, won the Fine Gael selection convention at Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill last Sunday with a thumping majority.
After Galway City Councillor Eddie Hoare withdrew from the race, that left a straight contest between Senator Kyne and former Young Fine Gael president, Eoghan Gallagher from Claregalway.
Fifty-year-old Senator Kyne, who spent over two decades in politics, won five votes for every one garnered by Mr Gallagher, who was laying down a marker for the next Local Elections. It’s understood sitting Fine Gael TD, Hildegarde Naughton, the Education Minister backed Senator Kyne.
Speaking to the Connacht Tribune this week, Senator Kyne said it was too early to tell how the bye-election would play out as Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have yet to choose their candidates.
But he said he obviously needed to be ahead of his two competitors in his backyard – Councillor Noel Thomas (Ind Ire) in Moycullen and Councillor Tom Welby (Ind) in Oughterard – if he is to be successful.
“To win a bye-election you need 50% of the votes plus one, so it is different to a General Election,” he said.
He said the constituency's big beasts like Mairéad Farrell (SF), John Connolly (FF), and Minister Naughton were not competing in the bye-election and so he was specifically targeting their supporters for number ones and lower preferences.
“I look forward to a positive campaign, meeting voters across the constituency and continuing to use my experience to help people and to represent Galway in Dáil Éireann,” he said.
Minister Peter Burke is Director of Elections but Senator Kyne is also likely to appoint a local campaign manager from the constituency.
At 19%, Fine Gael had the highest party share of first preference votes in Galway West in 2024 but Kyne was only seventh in the five-seater with 5,335 number ones in the first count and he was eliminated after the thirteenth count.
Candidates already declared are Sheila Garrity (Ind), Helen Ogbu (Lab), Niall Murphy (Green), Noel Thomas (Ind Ire), Thomas Welby (Ind), Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich (Soc Dem) and Orla Nugent (Aontú).