Sinn Féin will run its own candidate rather than getting behind a united left candidate in the byelection due to take place as a result of Independent TD Catherine Connolly winning the presidential election. Party leader Mary Lou McDonald has confirmed the move.
Ms McDonald expressed a preference for encouraging transfers with other left-wing parties for the Galway West byelection.
Sinn Féin joined the Social Democrats, Labour, People Before Profit and left-wing Independents in backing Ms Connolly in the presidential election.
The move to row in behind a single candidate was hugely successful, with Ms Connolly getting 914,143 votes – equating to more than 63 per cent of those who turned out to vote.
RM Block
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The election to fill her Dáil seat in Galway West must be called within six months of Ms Connolly taking office on November 11th.
Sinn Féin topped the poll in the Galway West constituency with its candidate Mairéad Farrell in last year’s general election.
On Sunday, Ms McDonald was asked on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics about the possibility of a united left candidate in the byelection. She said: “Sinn Féin will contest the byelection. We’re all individual, distinct parties.”
She added: “I hope in that contest, as with others, we will find a way to transfer to and from each other . . . But remember, in Galway West, the Sinn Féin candidate topped the poll. We’ve got a very strong mandate for there and not alone will we contest that election, we will contest to win that seat and to make sure it doesn’t fall to the Government.
“I think that would be a bad outcome.”
Asked about the prospect of a transfer pact in the absence of a united left candidate, Ms McDonald said: “Of course I can’t be presumptuous. I have to go and talk to colleagues on that. But that would be my instinct on it, yes.”
Ms Connolly’s sister, Colette Connolly, a former Galway City councillor, declined to comment when asked by The Irish Times if she will run in the byelection.
Fine Gael senator Seán Kyne, a former Galway West TD, congratulated Catherine Connolly on her election as president and said: “I will reflect on the question of a byelection but won’t be making any comment until the new year. The writ doesn’t have to be moved until next May at the latest.”
Councillor Eibhlín Seoighthe contested the general election in the constituency for the Social Democrats but has since left the party and now sits on Galway City Council. She pointed to an Instagram post when contacted about her intentions towards the byelection.
In the post, she said she is “loathe to be putting out a statement in relation to a byelection so soon”.
She referred to her participation in the Connolly campaign and how the “post-election slump hits hard” for volunteers.
Ms Seoighthe said: “I will be taking some time off to catch up on much-needed family time, catch up on work, see my friends, and see if my voice will come back. That is all I have to say for now.”
