Fianna Fáil John Connolly has won a seat in Galway West in the 2024 general election. The 45-year-old showed political survival skills when he bounced back after losing his seat on Galway City Council in 2009, and by the 2016 general election he was on the ballot paper as a Fianna Fáil running mate with Éamon Ó Cuív. He wasn’t successful but wasn’t deterred either, and he went on to retain his seat on Galway City Council in 2019.

He knew he was in the running to replace Ó Cuív and expected he would probably be one of three Fianna Fáil runners in Galway West, with the others in Connemara and to the east of the constituency. He kept his powder dry on the parachuting of Gráinne Seoige into the constituency, but the former chairman of Bearna GAA, who lives in nearby Rahoon, mopped up votes in both urban and rural areas in the general election. Now the principal of Athenry primary school is heading for Dáil Éireann after three terms as a city councillor.