Sinn Féin will hold hustings across Galway to whittle down potential candidates for the upcoming Galway west by-election before a formal selection convention in late February.
The plan was approved at the local party’s AGM last week, where 50 delegates from across Galway re-elected former city councillor, Mark Lohan, as its chairperson for the sixth year running.
Lohan has confirmed he will seek a nomination for the Galway West by-election, alongside possibly five other party members who have voiced intentions. The poll must be held before May 11, after independent TD Catherine Connolly vacated her Galway West Dáil seat on becoming president.
“I have been asked by several activists to put my name forward to represent the party at convention,” Lohan told the Advertiser, confirming his own intentions. The Cork-born trade union official (58 ) says has been a member of Sinn Féin for 40 years, since he moved home to Galway from the US, where he volunteered with Noraid.
Lohan was co-opted onto Galway city council in 2016, after the resignation of Anna Marley. He unsuccessfully ran for Sinn Féin in the 2019 and 2024 city council elections.
“We are fortunate to have a high level of interest and talent coming forward for nomination. In the end, the party members in Galway West will vote on a candidate. We will unite as we always do, and work hard to win this election. Our structures across the county are robust and energised, in a large part due to the work of our poll-topping leader, Mairead Farrell TD,” he said.
Lohan added that Sinn Féin will attend a Tonn na Clé meeting this week, where left-leaning parties in Galway West are expected to formally discuss vote transfers.
“This seat must stay in the progressive column... if we do not work together, then we may potentially give the government parties a welcome [by-election] backhander to prop up failure upon failure,” he said.
Former county council candidate, Spiddal-based Kevin O’Hara, is expected to contest the convention. O’Hara also ran unsuccessfully in the 2019 and 2024 local elections. The prominent activist enjoys a media profile based on community work in south Connemara.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD’s parliamentary assistant, Eoghan Ó Finn, from Galway city centre, is expected to submit his name. Informed sources suggest the young Irish language activist might attract a younger, leftist vote in the city.
Patrick Kelly is a prominent Sinn Féin official in University of Galway. The Ballybane student is said to have expressed interest in putting his name forward at the selection convention.
Two other – as yet, unnamed – Galway Sinn Féin members have also expressed interest in running in the by-election, making a possible six-way contest for the by-election nomination.
Retired teacher and former city councillor, Cathal ‘Rusty’ O’Conchuir, has not ruled himself out of contesting the Sinn Féin ticket. In 2024 he failed to retake the city’s western ward, which he lost in 2019.
Mairead Farrell’s neighbourhood ally in Mervue, Councillor Aisling Burke, has ruled herself out of the by-election contest, and it is understood Kevin Lally, MEP Kathleen Funchion’s aide who hails from an Cheathrú Rua, has decided against seeking a nomination, after expressing some initial interest.
The party has 11 cumann across County Galway, claiming 300 accredited members in Galway West, and around 200 in Galway East, making it probably the largest party by membership in Galway, although it is difficult to confirm any party’s numbers, as they tend to exaggerate or under-declare as they see fit.
The incoming officer board of Galway Sinn Féin is 17-strong, and district canvass team leaders have already been picked for the by-election, widely expected on Friday, May 1.
No Galway West director of election has yet been selected, and it remains to be seen whether the party’s Dublin HQ appoints Deputy Farrell, who topped Galway West in the 2024 general election, with 13.5 per cent of all first preference votes, or parachutes in a heavy hitter from outside the constituency.
The party’s AGM last week was addressed by Mayo TD, Rose Conway Walsh, who spoke on Irish unity, and outreach to all parties north and south.
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