Two new political offices set to raise temperature in Galway constituencies

There’s no election at all yet, and if Brian Cowen has his way, the voters will wait until 2012 .... but that hasn’t stopped two politicians this week announcing that they are establishing new offices in the Galway constituencies.

Fine Gael Senator Ciaran Cannon is opening offices in both Loughrea and Athenry in his bid for a Dáil seat. Meanwhile, Green Party Senator Niall O Brolchain is officially opening his constituency office in Galway West in early May.

Senator Cannon is certain to raise the temperature in Galway East Fine Gael by announcing that he is fitting out offices in Loughrea and Athenry ... a move sure to cause further angst in FG, which, by my count, now has up to six indicating their interest in one of the four nominations for the election candidate ticket.In the case of Senator Cannon, who was recruited

last year from the ranks of the dying Progressive Democrats, the new offices are a further indicator of his intent on winning a Dáil seat, but the move will cause raised eyebrows particularly amongst the ranks of the followers of sitting FG Deputy Ulick Burke.

You see, Loughrea and the southern end of the Galway East four-seater constituency, are traditionally very much the ‘stomping ground’ of TD Ulick Burke, who has been a high-profile figure in the constituency since 1981 and was first elected a Dáil Deputy for the area in 1997.

With Cannon chasing a seat in Galway East, and bringing with him into FG his own bunch of followers and election workers, the temperature was bound to rise if both himself and Ulick Burke were working in the southern reaches of the constituency.

The Ulick Burke supporters have tasted disappointment in the past when Burke lost the Dáil seat in 2002 but regained it in 2007, so both Burke and Cannon now having offices in Loughrea turns this into a real ‘battle on the main street’.

However, Cannon will also be taking the battle directly to Fianna Fáil – for, in recent times, the only full-time political office in Athenry has been that of Fianna Fáil’s Noel Treacy, so he also will face direct competition from Senator Cannon.

Said Cannon this week: “I suppose you could say I want to have a strong presence on the street in both of the towns and this is also an indication of my interest in representing the people of Galway East in the Dáil.”

He said the offices would be manned on the basis of a number of hours on weekdays, and he would be there also at given hours on Saturday. This was not a question of looking for any particular Dáil seat ... he wanted to represent the people of Galway East in the Dáil and this was aimed at providing a service, but was also an expression of his intent.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.