On paper it looks straightforward. A long serving councillor, former mayor, and well known businessman should easily retain his seat while the running mate is there to mop up any transfers for him should they be needed.
While Fine Gael Cllr John Mulholland is on course to retain his seat, a belief is building within (and without ) the party - in defiance of the above scenario - that his running mate Hildegarde Naughton could realistically challenge for a second seat in the five seat Galway City West ward.
Last week, the actress, singer, and primary school teacher Hildegarde Naughton was selected as Cllr Mulholland’s running mate for at the Fine Gael selection convention for Galway City West. When Ms Naughton delivered her address to the audience, FG members were impressed by her delivery, confidence, and grasp of the issues.
“She really has her finger on the pulse,” one FG member told the Galway Advertiser afterwards. “There was a lot of people there who would be Mulholland people but when they heard her speak they felt they should get behind her.”
FG is starting to think Ms Naughton could prove the ward’s dark horse and realistically challenge for a second seat. There are two reasons for this; Ms Naughton’s confident delivery and understanding of the issues; the fact that Maureen Egan came close to taking a seat in the 2004 Local Elections.
Ms Egan’s performance demonstrated there is a substantial FG vote in this most middle class of wards.
“We’re confident Cllr Mulholland will keep his seat. We’ll be doing all we can to make sure of that,” said the FG source. “Maureen was nearly elected after a very minimal, rather quiet campaign. If the party gets behind Hildegarde and really pushes her, we have a chance of challenging for a second seat.”
Galway City West is now a five seat ward. Councillors John Mulholland, Donal Lyons, and Catherine Connolly are all on course to take the first three. The remaining two seats are harder to call.
Many are trying to write off Green Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin, but these same people were those who proclaimed him “safe” once the ward was increased to five seats. He may have to struggle, but the Green man is far from out of the running.
Independent Cllr Daniel Callanan is widely expected to run again but this time in Galway City West. Cllr Callanan is based in the constituency and the FG source believes that of all those challenging for the last two seats, he will be the strongest.
Fianna Fáil’s Peter Keane is expected to challenge for one of the last two seats. This is based upon the rationale that there must be a large enough FF vote in the area to see him home. However this overlooks the public anger being directed at FF at the moment and the fact that this area rejected the need for a FF councillor in 2004.
However Mr Keane is not without hope and neither is Labour’s Neil McNeilus. Mr McNeilus can be expected to run a high profile and imaginative campaign. He can challenge for the seat provided he is not seen as ‘all flash and no subsistence’.
In this light, Ms Naughton can challenge Mr Keane and Mr McNeilus. Neither man has a running mate from which he can draw transfers, unlike Ms Naughton. Furthermore FG has enough to potentially take two seats whereas FF, even if it ran two candidates, knows it can only take one.
Ms Naughton’s performance depends on those of Cllr Ó Brolcháin and Cllr Callanan. If either stumbles or is knocked out, that could be the opening for Ms Naughton to take the final seat. Who knows? Perhaps the next time she ‘treads the boards’, she’ll be belting out a version of Alice Cooper’s ‘I’m Elected’.
