Retirement of Higgins could open up door for second FG seat

By Declan Tierney

The decision by Labour’s Michael D. Higgins to finally retire from national politics has opened up the door for Fine Gael to sneak a second seat in Galway West.

And it also could copper fasten two seats for a beleaguered Fianna Fail as Labour will struggle to find a candidate who can deliver a seat in the constituency.

Despite, Deputy Higgins’ insistence that the Labour Party is in “good shape” in the city, they do not have potential candidates with anything that resembles a similar profile to his.

It could well mean that Labour will be without a seat in Galway without an election being even called which will not well with party leader Eamon Gilmore who had earlier considered the county as one that could deliver at least two seats.

After declaring that he will not be standing for the next general election, Deputy Higgins said that the party would not have a problem in finding a replacement for him.

But senior party sources admit that Deputy Higgins’ decision to run for the Presidency is a major setback in Galway West where Labour are now likely to run both Cllr. Derek Nolan and Cllr. Neil McNeilis in an unenviable effort to retain the seat.

It must be remembered that a large percentage of Michael D. Higgins’ vote was a personal one and it was mainly city based.In last year’s local elections, there were six Labour candidates in the field for Galway City Council and while they returned an unprecedented five seats, they accumulated just over 4,300 first preferences between them.

That is less than a half of what is required to win a seat in Galway West and Labour will be very worried by these figures – while they will also be bemoaning the fact that they haven’t been grooming any candidate in successive general elections.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.