FORMER USI president Colm Keaveney is a surprise candidate for the Labour party nomination in the Galway East constituency in the next general election.
While the final decision on a candidate has yet to be made - there are three nominees in the running - Keaveney says he is confident that he can make his mark in the constituency. If he gains the nomination, he will be the youngest Labour candidate contesting the election.
Keaveney (26) is a native of Tuam, Co Galway, and the youngest of six children. He spent three years in USI between 1993 and 1996, first as union development officer, then as deputy president and finally as president in 1995-96.
He is also a former president of Letterkenny RTC students' union where he piloted the union through the final phase of the McGlinchey dominated administration. The Department of Education report on the college, completed by Dr Miriam Hederman O'Brien, vindicated Keaveney's efforts to hold the union together in the face of pressure from influential members of the governing body.
Galway East, one of the smallest constituencies in the country, is hardly a Labour heartland. It has three long standing TDs: Michael Kitt of Fianna Fail, who has held the seat previously occupied by his father, since 1975 Paul Connaughton of Fine Gael, a TD since 1981; and Noel Treacy of Fianna Fail, who has been a TD since 1982. They are all significantly older than Keaveney: Kitt was born in 1950, Connaugton in 1944 and Treacy in 1952.
But the vote for both FF and FG fell in the last general election in 1992: FF's by 11 per cent and the FG vote by 7.5 per cent. The addition of a fourth seat in the constituency leaves the door open for a candidate from outside the two largest parties.
The PDs' Joe Burke polled strongly in 1987 and 1992, with almost 4,000 first preference votes in the latter year. In that election, Labour's Joe Hynes finished second bottom of eight candidates, with 1,586 first preference votes, 5.5 per cent of the total.
Keaveney believes that the West has yet to see the full benefit of the economic boom and is committed to fighting for the rights of his native area. "The PDs talk about Ireland as the Celtic Tiger, but that prosperity only reaches as far as the Shannon," he says. "From there, it becomes the Celtic Kitten".
The potential of both UCG and Galway RTC should be exploited more fully for the benefit of the region, he says. Young people in the area need someone who is prepared to fight on their behalf, Keaveney adds.
Keaveney's potential candidacy represents the first time in about two decades that a high profile student leader has taken to the election trail. Pat Rabbitte and Eamonn Gilmore, both of Democratic Left, were products of the last significant student input into the political process; Gilmore, like Keaveney, is a former president of USI, while Rabbitte was president of UCG students' union.
The final selection of the Labour candidate for the constituency will take place on February 23rd.
