Bradley Bytes: Senior Fianna Fáil figures conspicuously absent from Galway West Bye-Election
Has Fianna Fáil given up on winning the Galway West Bye-Election before it even officially started yesterday?
And by Fianna Fáil, we mean the upper echelons of the party, leadership and senior elected representatives.
Of course, their candidate, Galway County Councillor Cillian Keane, hasn’t given up. Nor have his supporters. But he’s fighting a lonely battle without much help from Ministers, TDs or Senators.
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary appears to be the most high-profile Fianna Fáiler who has canvassed for Keane in the constituency – but he’s his Director of Elections.
Where are the rest of them? Where is leader Michéal Martin? Where are leaders-in-waiting Jack Chambers, Jim O’Callaghan and Darragh O’Brien? Ministers Norma Foley, James Lawless and Mary Butler haven’t been seen around Galway West either.
They’re Missing In Action when it comes to canvassing in the Bye-Election in Galway West, which was once a stronghold with three Fianna Fáil seats out of five.
Contrast that with Independent Ireland, whose four TDs have effectively emigrated to Galway West as they put everything into the campaign of their candidate Noel Thomas.
Throwing the kitchen sink at it, they even held a party convention in Galway last weekend.
Fine Gael big names have been active in Galway West too. You can’t walk around Galway City these days without bumping into a senior figure in Fine Gael out canvassing for Senator Seán Kyne.
Tánaiste and party leader Simon Harris is due in the city this weekend to formally launch Kyne’s campaign. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Helen McEntee, the deputy leader, was at Galway Harbour on Monday. Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan has visited the constituency at least twice this year. Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has been here too.
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, Director of Elections is in Galway almost as often as local Fine Gael TD and Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton.
We’ve lost count of how many other ‘Blueshirts’ have been spotted knocking on doors recently.
They include but are not limited to: Midlands-North-West MEPs Nina Carberry and Maria Walsh; senators Garett Kelleher, Gareth Scahill, Pádraig Brady, and Joe O’Reilly; Minister of State Jerry Buttimer; and Dáil Deputy Michael Murphy.
Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has been down from Donegal at least twice, while Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Cathaoirleach of the Oireachtas Gaeilge Committee has canvassed doors for Sinn Féin candidate Mark Lohan in the Conamara Gaeltacht.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Soc Dem leader Holly Cairns have all visited Galway West recently.
And so we ask again: has Fianna Fáil given up on the Galway West Bye-Election? Or could the presence of senior party figures in the constituency be seen as more of a hindrance than a help to the Keane campaign and so they are deliberately staying away?
Independent Ireland convention
At the Independent Ireland convention in Galmont Hotel in Galway City last Saturday, party leader Michael Collins declared that more than 10 Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors were in talks with him and ready to jump ship.
It’s best to take these claims with a pinch of salt until defections actually materialise. But there is no denying Independent Ireland has been wooing Fianna Fáil people in particular. Their choice of guest speaker confirmed that.
For Elaine Dunne, chair and founder of Federation of Early Childhood Providers ran for Fianna Fáil in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in the 2024 Local Election. She previously advised senior Fianna Fáil people on policy and addressed Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party members on childcare policy.
Meanwhile, one George Higgins announced on social media that he attended the Independent Ireland conference.
“They have great insights into where the party needs to go by leaving nobody behind and standing up for the working person in this country,” said the brother of Fine Gael City Councillor Clodagh Higgins and former Labour Party General Election candidate in Galway East, Lorraine Higgins.
Though the conference was dominated by the serious business of fuel protests, the straight-talking Roscommon/Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice brought some light relief when he regaled members with a hearty rendition of Galway Bay.
Poster pollution
This column has highlighted the use of 'non-election election posters' before, but this phenomenon seems far worse in the build-up to the Galway West Bye-Election.
Posters purporting to advertise public meetings that are mostly about boosting the profile of the candidates and parties hosting the meeting have appeared all over Galway West in recent weeks.
The guilty parties were all opposition parties and mostly of the Left including Labour, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Green Party, Social Democrats, and Aontú.
Inactive travel
A plaque unveiling in Knocknacarra attracted a large crowd to Bóthar Stiofáin last Sunday, where many attendees viewed the area's new cycle infrastructure for the first time.
A photo posted to Bluesky by road safety campaign Cosáin Galway showed at least 10 cars were parked in the new cycle lanes of the Active Travel scheme that apparently cost €5m.