There have been four by-elections in the Galway West constituency since the foundation of the State. They took place on June 19, 1935; August 8, 1936; May 30,1940 and March 4, 1975.
The 1935 election was caused by the death of Martin McDonogh. The electorate was 97,000, and there were just two candidates. It was won by Eamonn Corbett FF with 37,415 first preference votes, followed by Thomas McDonogh FG on 24,088 votes. Eamonn Corbett had fought in the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence. He was involved with the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War and was imprisoned in Limerick Prison and Newbridge Camp. He was elected in this election, lost his seat in 1937, was re-elected in 1943 and did not contest the 1944 election.
The 1936 byelection was caused by the death of Patrick Hogan, FG. There were 75 parishes in County Galway, and it was estimated that at least two meetings were held in each one of those on the Sunday before the election. Seán T O’Kelly was addressing one in Salthill when he was interrupted by Madame McBride, who began to denounce coercion. She was removed by the Civic Guards, struggling and protesting. She continued her speech a short distance away and took with her a substantial portion of Mr O’Kelly’s audience. Similarly, at a Fine Gael meeting in Eyre Square, a young girl jumped on the platform and shouted, “Vote number 1 for Count Plunkett”. She was immediately pulled off the lorry and hustled out of the crowd. There were other interruptions during the meeting, but the interrupters were removed. The seat was won by Martin Neilan FF with 60.6 per cent of the vote, 39,982 votes. He defeated James Hogan on 35.3 per cent, 23,264 votes and Count Plunkett (Rep ) on 4.1 per cent, 2,696 votes. Neilan was elected on the first count. He did not contest the 1937 General Election.
The Galway constituency had been the largest in the country; it had seven seats in 1921/22 and nine seats from 1923-1937. The Galway West constituency was created under the Electoral Revision of Constituencies Act and was first used in the 1937 General Election when the Galway constituency was split into Galway East and Galway West.
The 1940 by-election was caused by the death of Seán Tubridy. Tubridy was born in 1897 at Galway. His parents were Gaeilgeóirí who taught at Scoil Mhic Dara in Carraroe. They worked with Roger Casement and helped set up a fund for free school dinners there. Seán was a doctor who fought against the epidemics of cholera, typhus and the Spanish flu in Conamara. He was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD in 1927 but lost his seat in 1932. He was re-elected at the 1938 election but died in July, 1939.
His death caused the by-election of May 30, 1940 for which there were just two runners, John H Keane FF and Michael Donnellan FG. The valid poll was 20,571 of which Keane won 72.1 per cent, 14, 863 votes and Donnellan won 27.9 per cent, 5,735 votes. Keane had served with the 69th infantry regiment (New York ) of the US army during World War I. He won the seat at this election but lost it in the 1943 general election. He stood in a few subsequent elections but was never re-elected.
The 1975 by-election was caused by the death of John Geoghegan (Fianna Fáil ). The seat was won by his daughter, Máire Geoghegan Quinn with 12,637 votes. John Mannion of Fine Gael was second with 7,324 votes; Michael D Higgins of Labour with 5,269 votes; Pól Ó Foighil, Páirtí Neamhspleach with 2,096 votes; Renée Prendergast, Sinn Féin Gardiner Place with 656 votes.
Our photographs show A ) Eamonn Corbett who won the 1935 byelection; B ) Seán Tubridy whose death caused the 1940 byelection and C ) Maire Geoghegan Quinn who was victorious in the 1975 byelection.
