TV broadcaster Gráinne Seoige will automatically become a Fianna Fáil candidate in the next general election after three nominees pulled out of the race on Friday hours before the Galway West selection convention.
Ms Seoige now becomes the second “celebrity” candidate to be connected with Fianna Fáil’s general election campaign. The party announced that another former TV news anchor, Alison Comyn, would be a candidate for the party in Louth alongside Senator Erin McGreehan.
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman confirmed that three potential candidates – Senator Ollie Crowe, Galway city councillor Alan Cheevers and Connemara candidate Darragh Ó Tuairisg – had withdrawn their nominations by Friday evening. This left only Ms Seoige and Galway city councillor John Connolly in the race.
With the party pursuing a strategy of running at least two candidates in the five-seat constituency, both are expected to be ratified by the convention on Friday evening.
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In a statement on Friday evening, Ms Seoige said: “It is with a sense of pride and belonging that I stand ready to work hard for everyone in this constituency.”
She paid tribute to outgoing Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív, saying: “His dedication and achievements have left a lasting impact on Galway and I’m deeply honoured to potentially be in the position to build on the strong foundations he has laid.”
[ Gráinne Seoige has swapped the Love Teach for Politics Island. Who will be next?Opens in new window ]
For his part, Mr Connolly, who contested a general election in 2016, said he was delighted to be a candidate again.
“I was first elected in 2004 to the city council and I am now ambitious to do it on a grander scale. I have a lot of hunger for this at the moment.”
Mr Connolly said that he wanted to spread his campaign as far and as wide across the constituency as he could with the objective of “maximising the party vote and hopefully winning two seats”.
Fianna Fáil is also holding a convention in Mayo on Friday evening where outgoing TD and Minister of State Dara Calleary and Senator Lisa Chambers will be nominated. Ms Chambers lost her Dáil seat in 2020 but with the constituency having increased to five seats the party will target a gain here.
Earlier this week, the party selected former lord mayor of Dublin Tom Brabazon as its candidate in the five-seat constituency of Dublin Bay North. Its sitting Fianna Fáil TD Seán Haughey announced earlier this year that he will be retiring at the time of the next election. Mr Brabazon has been a councillor since 2003.
The Fine Gael convention for Galway East on Saturday evening is expected to be closely contested. The outgoing Deputy for Fine Gael, Ciarán Cannon, said earlier this year he would not be seeking re-election.
Six nominees in all will be seeking one or two nominations. The front-runner is expected to be Cllr Peter Roche from Abbeyknockmoy, who got almost 6,000 first preferences in the 2020 election. The other candidates are Kabir Ahmmed; Galway city councillor Clodagh Higgins: Siobhán Lawless, Niamh Madden; and Shane Dolphin.
At a convention on Thursday night, Senator John McGahon and Cllr Paula Butterly were selected to represent the party in Louth. On the same night, veteran Fine Gael politician Willie Aird (64) was selected for Laois. He has been a councillor for 45 years, having been first elected in 1979.
Senator Mary Seery-Kearney was also chosen by Fine Gael for Dublin South Central on Thursday.
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