Mayo candidates jockey for general election bid

WITH the latest opinion polls suggesting a likely return of the current coalition government, the big two political parties in Mayo are busily getting their teams ready for the upcoming general election.

The retirement of long-standing Fine Gael TD Michael Ring from national politics and the increase in Dáil seats from four to five has given potential candidates optimism that a Dáil seat is there for the taking.

The Mayo Fianna Fáil selection convention is due to take place this Friday evening, September 6, in the Ivy Tower Hotel, Castlebar, while Westport woman Keira Keogh has confirmed she will put her name forward for selection for Fine Gael to replace Michael Ring as TD.

The latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll, published over the weekend, shows Fine Gael on 25 percent, followed by Fianna Fáíl on 21 percent. Sinn Féin’s support continues to plummet, with the party now on 18 percent – a 17 percent drop in 12 months.

The common consensus is that Taoiseach Simon Harris is expected to announce a general election following the publication of Budget 2025 on October 1, with a date in early November anticipated.

Fianna Fáil strategise

FIANNA Fáil is expected to announce its candidates for Mayo at its local selection convention on Friday, with four candidates confirmed to stand. The party’s only TD, Dara Calleary, will be joined at the convention by former TD and current Senator Lisa Chambers, Cllr Brendan Mulroy from Westport and Cllr Damien Ryan from Ballinrobe.

A Fianna Fáil spokesperson told The Mayo News that party headquarters has yet to indicate how many candidates should run in the election, but it is expected that a two-candidate strategy will be taken.

Calleary and Chambers are seen as the favourites to be chosen on a two-candidate strategy, but the party may be tempted to run a third candidate, given that massive vote winner Ring will not be running.

Westport-based councillor Brendan Mulroy may fancy his chances of gaining support in the west of the county to ensure the region holds a TD, while Damien Ryan will have a similar point of view from a southern perspective.

Fine Gael riding high

THE Fine Gael selection convention is due to take place on Sunday, September 15, with a number of candidates jockeying for position to join sitting TD Alan Dillon on the ticket.

Westport woman Keira Keogh has thrown her hat into the ring after confirming on social media that she will be putting her name forward for selection to the Fine Gael ticket. Keogh, who ran an impressive if ultimately unsuccessful campaign in June’s local elections, has received the backing of Ring to run.

“I’m honoured to have accepted the nomination to go forward to the Fine Gael selection convention on 15th September for the general election,” she wrote on Facebook.

“I will work as hard as I possibly can to retain Michael Ring’s seat in West Mayo. Michael, Anne, Suzanne and Maggie have worked tremendously hard in the [constituency] office in Westport, and I feel a huge responsibility to leave no stone unturned in an effort to keep its doors open,” she wrote on Facebook.

Current Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council John O’Hara from Bonniconlon and newly elected Ballyhaunis-based councillor Alma Gallagher will join her at the convention, as will former TD and Senator Michelle Mulherin.

Mulherin was first elected as a TD in 2011, but she lost her seat at the 2016 and failed to get elected at the 2020 elections.

The number of Fine Gael candidates to run in the election is to be decided by the party headquarters, but with the party riding high in the polls, it is expected they will run three candidates – with a fourth also not ruled out.

Sinn Féin selection

SITTING Sinn Féin TD, Rose Conway-Walsh has already been selected by the party to run in the general election, but the party’s only sitting councillor, Gerry Murray, has indicated he is willing to run if chosen to do so.

Charlestown-based Murray was the only one of the nine Sinn Féin candidates to be elected to Mayo County Council after he comfortably retained his seat in the four-seat Swinford Local Electoral Area.

Such is his popularity in the east of the county, his running mate Swinford-based candidate John Sheahan came within one vote of being elected to the same electoral area after a marathon count.

Murray unsuccessfully ran as a party candidate in 2007 but stated that his candidacy would be ‘subject to whatever strategies the party intends to deploy’.

“If the opportunity arises I will seriously consider it,” he told The Mayo News when asked about whether he would run in the upcoming election.

Independents eye the prize

MEANWHILE, former Fine Gael councillor Patsy O’Brien has already declared he will run in the general election as an Independent. The Robeen native polled a whopping 2,700 votes on his first outing as an Independent in June’s local elections, repeating his poll-topping outing with Fine Gael in the previous campaigns.

The recent decision of Michael Ring to bring the curtains down on his remarkable three decades of service to Mayo, coupled with the return of parts of south Mayo that had been in Galway West for the last two elections, has opened up a whole new vista as Mayo becomes to a five-seater once again.

“The response has been hugely positive, and I have already been canvassing strongly in the Tourmakeady area. When Ballinrobe was a three-seat constituency, I served the people of Clogher, Partry and Carnacon for five years, and they all know me in those parts,” said Cllr O’Brien.

“I am absolutely amazed with the level of support coming my way from all over south and east Mayo. Lots of people I have known from the IFA scene are ringing me from around the county and pledging support. There is so much goodwill out there for a strong Independent who is in touch with rural issues.”

Cllr O’Brien’s opening pace is not going unnoticed among the voters. “Patsy is a renowned vote getter and sees this as his chance to become the first TD from the deep south of Mayo in 100 years,” said a keen political observer at the weekend. “He is on the trail from Bonniconlon Show to Manulla and so many other places. Patsy relishes a challenge and is a serious contender to create a shock result in Mayo.”

Fellow Independent councillor, Harry Barrett from Castlebar, told The Mayo News that he is not ruling out running in the general election following his success in getting elected to Mayo County Council in the local elections.

“I’m still keeping that option there,” said Cllr Barrett. “I’m having an increasing concern about housing and homelessness in the county and the lack of proper discussion in the county about the real real issues, homelessness, rental prices, the cost of living and how hard it is on people on low wages in the county.”

Breaffy-based Stephen Kerr, who secured 899 first-preference votes on an anti-immigration platform in the Castlebar Electoral Area in the local elections, also indicated he will run in the general election.

Kerr, who was unsuccessful in his bid to be elected to Mayo County Council, stated on social media that he did not want to run but had no choice as ‘nobody else is speaking out about our immigration policy’ and added ‘this country is being destroyed’.

There is also speculation that Ballina-based candidate Mark Duffy is giving considerable thought to putting his name on the ballot paper, while poll-topping Independent Ireland councillor Chris Maxwell from Louisburgh is another who could look to capitalise on the absence of Michael Ring in the field.