Overview
- Fianna Fáil selected first-time councillor Cillian Keane as its Galway West by-election candidate at a party convention in the Salthill Hotel.
- Keane’s entry brings the declared field to 12 candidates in the race to fill the constituency’s vacant Dáil seat.
- The vote is expected in late May to replace Catherine Connolly, who vacated the seat after being elected President.
- Keane, from the Maree, Oranmore area, won a Galway County Council seat in 2024 and holds a UCD degree in food and agribusiness.
- The lineup includes nominees from Fine Gael (Seán Kyne), Labour (Helen Ogbu), Sinn Féin (Mark Lohan), the Social Democrats (Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich), the Greens (Niall Murphy), People Before Profit (Denman Rooke), Aontú (Orla Nugent), Independent Ireland (Noel Thomas) and three non-party candidates, reflecting a broad urban–rural constituency focus on daily-life pressures.