South Mayo voters get used to crossing the divide

ON THE MOVE John O’Mahony, seen here canvassing ahead of the 2011 General Election, will be hoping to secure a large amout of south Mayo votes in the new Galway West constituency. Pic: Liam Sweeney

The 2016 General Election will see thousands of south Mayo residents cast their votes in the Galway West constituency

Ciara Galvin

THE election has been called by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and for approximately 7,500 people across south Mayo this means a move of their vote into the Galway West constituency.
Voters from the nine electoral divisions in the Ballinrobe area will now find themselves faced with a ballot paper of candidates that may not look too familiar. And, for approximately 280 people living just three miles past the town of Ballinrobe and further, the boundary shake up will result in communities being split into two different constituencies.
According to Mayo County Council, the only area in south Mayo that will experience a break up of constituencies will be Cregduff. The area formerly found itself crossing two electoral divisions, Hollymount and Kilmaine, with approximately 200 people in the Hollymount area and 80 in the Kilmaine division.
Now with the redrawn boundary resulting in the Hollymount electoral division remaining in Mayo and the Kilmaine electoral division transferred to the Galway West constituency, depending on where smaller townlands are located, neighbours could be voting in different constituencies on February 26.
One example of this is in the village of Roundfort where voters could see varying candidate signs, with two pubs now located in two different constituencies - Lyons’ pub is now located in the Galway West constituency while Delia Murphy’s pub remains in Mayo.
To add to the confusion with the closure of Cregduff NS, the polling station for the Cregduff area, it is expected polling will be moved to St Joseph’s Primary School in Ballinrobe. It is understood that communities within the wider Cregduff area taking in a number of townlands will now all vote in Ballinrobe, regardless of constituency changes. A ‘Mayo box’ will be set up in another room in the school, for voters in the Cregduff area who remain in the Mayo constituency.

How did this all come about?
Why was the south Mayo area subsumed into Galway West, a constituency made up of Connemara and Galway City?
In 2011 a decision was made to create a Constituency Commission which was tasked with redrawing electoral maps by merging them into larger ones or dividing constituencies into smaller ones.
The decision was taken following the findings of the 2011 census which showed certain population shifts in different areas.
The main aim of the commission was to reduce the amount of TDs from 166 to 158, a number deemed suitable in terms of Ireland’s population. As a result of this the number of people living in each constituency would provide the basis for a decision of each boundary change.
According to the commission’s report it was found that an arrangement of constituencies based exclusively on county boundaries was ‘not feasible’.
In 2011 the population of Mayo was 130,638 and it was deemed that the county could no longer form a five seat constituency. In June 2012 the commission’s findings were set out.
With the south Mayo area subsumed into Galway West, the population of 150,874, resulting in it remaining a five seater constituency and the rest of the county of Mayo should form a four seat constituency.

Geography of boundaries
Though the commission agreed that breaching of county boundaries ‘shall be avoided as far as practicable’, the Galway West constituency sees a line effectively drawn around Ballinrobe, Crossboyne, Garrymore, Roundfort, Shrule, The Neale, Cong and Cross and at some points near these villages and townlands voters may still remain in the Mayo constituency depending on what point of a road they are living on. For all voters affected, the arrival of polling cards may be the first notification they get of what constituency they are now voting in.
Carrowreagh resident Margaret Geraghty claims the boundary change does not help her and her husband who will pass their old polling station at Cregduff to vote in Ballinrobe.
“There’s great confusion, we don’t know where we are or how this little patch got moved. We’re the Galway side as we understand. A lot around could have gone to Roundfort to vote, it would have been nearer, and for older people going to Ballinrobe. We have walking sticks and are prone to falling, Cregduff was great because it had a ramp,” explained Mrs Geraghty.
Speaking about the candidates in her new constituency, Mrs Geraghty said the issue was with not knowing them.
“We don’t know them and they don’t know us. Most of them wouldn’t be from rural areas and I imagine wouldn’t have an understanding of farming issues. I’m sure there are some good candidates, but they are not near enough to us.”

What will this mean for south Mayo?
A growing feeling in Ballinrobe before the election was even called was that the boundary change would result in the town being forgotten about.
When asked about what the move in with Galway neighbours would mean, business people in the town voiced their concerns about becoming a ‘forgotten town’.
“It’ll mean nothing for us. Nobody in Galway knows us and we don’t know any TDs in Galway. I don’t blame them, but you won’t have them coming down here, they’ll go to Galway City where the votes are,” said retired business owner Tony Walkin.
The Ballina native who has lived in Ballinrobe for over 50 years said apart from John O’Mahony and Éamon Ó Cuív he does not know any other candidate in the Galway West constituency.
With O’Mahony moving into the Galway West constituency and south Mayo voters now able to vote for Éamon Ó Cuív, the town has seen both candidates out of the blocks early ahead of February 26 by opening constituency offices in the town.
“It would be great if they were both elected, to have two TDs representing in the town. I think they would work together. They would have to do something for our town,” added Mr Walkin, who described the boundary change as a ‘stupid move’.
“Galway TDs don’t know us and my big worry is we can’t compete with Galway [for funding]. There’s 3,000 people in Ballinrobe and 100,000 plus in Galway City, their TD are bound to concentrate on where the votes are.”
Mr Walkin said the town needs to be revitalised and that if this was not done by politicians the town would have to ‘shut up shop’.
Local businessman Vincent Cummins said he too had concerns about the boundary changes and what it means for the future of Ballinrobe.
“There hasn’t been a decent project brought to Ballinrobe over the last ten years. There’s no money being invested in Ballinrobe and with this change it’ll only be harder to get investment,” said Mr Cummins, who fears that the bigger population catchment of Galway City would benefit more from the elected TDs than south Mayo due to the large concentration of voters.
“If there’s projects to be delivered they’re going to go to Galway City, it’s where the voters are for next time around.”
This is not a fear shared by Fianna FΡil councillor Damien Ryan, who’s party colleague, outgoing TD Éamon Ó Cuív, is now eligible for votes in south Mayo.
Cllr Ryan acknowledged the boundary change was ‘ideal’ for Ó Cuív who lives approximately five miles from the old Mayo electoral boundary and is ‘well known in the area’.
Posed with the concern of some voters that Ballinrobe will be ‘forgotten’ as a result of the boundary change, Cllr Ryan said the town would be ‘far from forgotten’ if Ó Cuív was ‘returned and in a position of power’.
On the issue of elected representative for Galway West having to liaise with two different county councils - Mayo and Galway, Cllr Ryan said this would not cause any difficulties.
“If anything, the change will mean that the Ballinrobe Area Office will be critically important and TDs will make representations to both councils. Roads issues go through councillors at local level and I don’t agree that roads will be fixed in more populated areas. We get our share of the Mayo budget for roads for the Ballinrobe area,” explained Ryan.
Ryan believes the boundary change will ‘enhance and advance’ the south Mayo area in terms of political representation.
Local Fine Gael councillor Patsy O’Brien admitted that ‘nobody is entirely happy with the situation’. When posed with concerns about south Mayo being forgotten, Cllr O’Brien said the importance of the area has to be impressed on the Galway West candidates.
“If we can retain a TD in the town it will be a plus. If they [voters] don’t, we’ll suffer. Whether it is on one side [politically] or the other, constituency offices in the town need to remain open for the next five years and that needs to be clarified,” said Cllr O’Brien.
The Robeen councillor said there has been some confusion among voters regarding the new boundary changes and said the larger Galway West area would be a ‘challenge’ for elected representatives.
“It’s awkward but it will all come down to the willingness of representatives.”
Voters in the effected south Mayo areas will have an interesting two weeks ahead familiarising themselves with the candidates in their new constituency.

Townlands in the Electoral Division of Kilmaine that previously voted at Cregduff NS and now transfer to the Dail Constituency of Galway West
Ballina, Hollymount
Buncrower
Caher
Carrowmore
Carrowreagh
Cloonkeeghan
Lecarrow
Mweelis
Skealoghan