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NOW THAT THE counting is done and the 18 seats on Galway City Council have been filled, let’s look at how the parties fared in this weekend’s vote.
What jumps out immediately from this weekend’s result is the disappearance of the Green Party, which lost the two seats it had won in 2019.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has lost its top spot on the Council, dropping from five seats down to four while Fine Gael has gained a seat, moving up to four after securing three last time round.
Another noteworthy development is that Sinn Féin has entered the fray by winning one seat where it had none before.
Labour and the Social Democrats have both made gains. Labour has gone from one councillor to three and the Social Democrats have gone from one seat to two.
The number of independent councillors has fallen from six down to four.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how the parties fared across the city’s three wards.
Galway City Central (6 seats)
The Galway City Central saw some significant turnover, with three out of the six councillors in the area holding their seats.
They are Fine Gael councillors Eddie Hoare and Frank Fahy, alongside independent Mike Cubbard.
Labour has a new councillor in the ward in the form of John McDonagh and the same is true for the Social Democrats with Eibhlín Seoighthe.
Fianna Fáil’s Josie Forde is the third of the newcomers on the Council in the city centre.
Galway City East (6 seats)
Independents fared poorly in Galway City East, where only one was elected – Declan McDonnell – after there being three in the are last time round.
The other councillors who retained their seats are Alan Cheevers of Fianna Fáil and independent Terry O’Flaherty.
Again, Labour got a new councillor elected in this area in the form of Helen Ogbu. The same goes for Sinn Féin, whose candidate Aisling Burke won a seat, and for Fine Gael who got Shane Forde over the line.
Galway City West (6 seats)
There was only one change to the Galway City West part of the Council this weekend. Alan Curran of the Social Democrats won a seat at the expense of the Green Party.
Incumbent councillors Donal Lyons (Independent), Clodagh Higgins (Fine Gael), John Connolly (Fianna Fáil), Peter Keane (Fianna Fáil) and Níall McNelis (Labour) all retained their seats.
Curious about other the makeup of other city councils? Read our reports on how the parties did in the Dublin and Cork City Council races.
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Great to see the greens collapse with half the seats .it was well flagged not just in polls but the ridiculous green policy’s that burden the the household every week.
The main parties will dump them also for the next GE and run with labour or independents.
@Rory Burns: OK, I’m asking. What Green policies do you consider to be ridiculous?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: The relentless taxation. The greens just keep on piling it on and on and on.
@Patrice Ahern: what taxes are you referring to?
@Patrice Ahern: 11 Green TDs dictating ‘relentless taxation’? I doubt it! Anyway, taxation itself isn’t a ‘policy’, just a means to allow the implementation of policy. So I will repeat my question. What Green policies are ‘ridiculous’?
@Rory Burns: oh happy day. 34 years living in Galway and now at last we will get a ring road and also the Air Show back.
@gregory pym: how did 2 green councillors manage to stop the ring road and the airshow?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: They don’t have any….. all bluster.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Every single one of them. Now.
@Rory Burns: How are local city councillors affecting ‘the household’ every week? Do you even know what the local elections are for?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: they don’t have any outside of central Dublin really, just a ‘don’t build anything, have no solutions’ kinda party, rn. I’m for the bikes and that, a ‘greenway’ there and abouts…
@gregory pym: that article didn’t mention the Greens
@gregory pym: The article is from 2007: “The mayor of Galway, Tom Costello, has expressed surprise at the decision by the organisers of the annual Salthill airshow to cancel the event due to lack of funding.
The decision was welcomed by Independent city councillor Catherine Connolly, who had boycotted the event as Labour mayor of the city, and by the Galway Alliance Against War.”
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: well Carbon Taxes, for a start. A complete Con. All that does is put a tax on education, work & health. Contributes to fuel poverty for those on low or limited means.
Everybody talking about Sinn Fein and rightly so, but equally, the Greens have had a terrible election. Hopefully it continues into the general election.
@Brian Heffernan: @Brian Heffernan: This does happen with junior partners in a coalition. It’s easy to distract and put the negative on the little party.
I’m not such a huge fan of the Greens, but I believe that Ireland does need them, preferred in government. All other parties ignore the environment almost completely.
This mandates the construction of the Galway ring road! The Greens were the most vocal opponents in both the city and county. Now, the next step is the removal of Pauline O’R as a senator.
The Greens failed to see the potential of a traffic-free, pedestrian-friendly city center that the ring road would create. Galway rejected your light rail, road narrowing, candidates, and your party!
The best action for the Green Party now is for Eamon Ryan to listen to the electorate and issue tenders. If this happens, there might be hope for the future of the Greens.
@Galway Carpenter: how about allowing trials of all those wonderful things for the city BEFORE throwing a billion quid at increasing the problem?
Asking road builders to solve the traffic problem only leads to one outcome, more roads. And all the evidence, all over the world shows us that more roads leads to more traffic.
The solution requires modal shift. We need a smaller proportion of the population using their cars to get around in the city. And the surveys have shown us, the vast bast majority of galway traffic is starting/finishing their journeys in the city. Not going through it east to West – hence, a ring road won’t help.
@Galway Carpenter: it’s amazing the amount of people in Galway who think a toll road is going to solve the traffic problem.
@Doolf Mute: It’s not going to be tolled
@Rua Rogan: you can’t ‘trial’ a railway, or tram, or bus corridors; you need to provide an alternative for traffic to keep out of the city first. Did Dublin ‘trial’ LUAS before it was built ? Or the M50 ? Cars are here, and here to stay.
@Doolf Mute: who said ‘Toll’. It’ll be a Ring Road.
@Rua Rogan: As stated above, the mandate from the people of Galway removed the greens, I am sure MKO will get plenty of work from such a ring road. The bulk of traffic goes from Knocknacarra to the east side and vice versa. We definitely need another bridge. If not a ring road. Eletric and hydrogen cars are increasing, which means traffic is here to stay unless the city acts to remove it.
@John Moylan: it will definitely be tolled, the m50 is tolled, so is the tunnel in Limerick. This road had a bridge, two tunnels and a viaduct. Do you think GCC will miss the opportunity. It’s why they are so keen in it
@Rua Rogan: In fairness Galway has needed a ring road for decades, so this is something they badly need, and is not just some fancy dan project. Cork got it’s ring road, Limerick too plus the tunnel, but Galway has been choked with traffic for decades, due to decades of under-investment in any kind of road infratructure.
@Doolf Mute: I’d pay a toll if it saves me 2 hours every day !
This is not about Galway. This is about the Greens being a total failure and a party nobody wants. The next General Election will prove that. Bye bye Ryan
Its funny FF/FG are not gaining or losing combined. But they still mock SF who are winning. A little bit but a win is a win.
@hans vos:
@hans vos: SF have had a terrible election. Objectively terrible. No debate
@hans vos:
Sinn Fein went from 3 seats to none in 2019… This time they won 1 seat out of 18 while polling the largest party in the country…
This is a disaster for SF and calls into SF being able to hold polls in Elections..
@FoxyBoiiYT: if you loose then it is terrible..FF/FG loose. SF wins marginaly so indeed no debate.
Good riddance Greens
tg for that…
So the agribusiness funded campaign to vilify the Greens is succeeding in country areas is working. This is unsurprising as the custodians of our land are used to being led around by the nose by vested interests, e.g. Teagasc. The rest of use are not as easily fooled!
Fantastic to see the backs of the GP on councils. An utter liability. Reminds of the joy of when Mary, Trevor, Eamon, John, Paul & Ciaran all failed to get re-elected to the Dáil in GE2011….
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