Election 2024: The only poll that matters to Gráinne Seoige is 'the one at the ballot box’
Gráinne Seoige goes on an election walkabout in Connemara. Picture: Ray Ryan
At the end of a long day canvassing for votes in Connemara, the mist is beginning to roll in and a dark cloud hangs over Gráinne Seoige and her team.
The Fianna Fáil candidate for Galway West has just learned of a new poll which indicates the first-timer will seriously struggle to claim a seat in the upcoming election.
Just minutes after driving by the TG4 studio where Ms Seoige did her first live news broadcast at the age of 21, the station has released the first of its constituency polls and the news is not what the team was hoping for.
As Ms Seoige, her mother Phil, and Fianna Fáil finance director David Burke are heading into the city for their evening canvass, they learn that she is currently polling at 7%, exactly the same as her running mate John Connolly.
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In the five-seater, the two Fianna Fáil candidates rank seventh and eighth, with party support dropping by almost 10 percentage points in the constituency.
Energy levels already waning, the news brings the mood down significantly, with Ms Seoige taking a beat before launching into the spiel all politicians give when a poll has not gone their way.
The former presenter says she is tuning out of polls and other “noise”, keeping her head down, and focusing on the task at hand — now a much bigger task than would have been anticipated.
Where there had been grand chitchat about the campaign so far and what the evening would bring, an awkward quiet hangs over the car. These are just “the ups and downs and curves” of running an election campaign, Ms Seoige resolves, and she is not wrong, as the morning’s canvass could hardly have gone better.
Earlier in the day, there is a positive energy as the group canvasses on an unseasonably warm and bright November morning.
“That’s a big Fianna Fáil house there. There will be a good few votes for you in there,” says John, her driver and guide for the day, as we pull up to the houses chosen for us to visit.
The first stop of the day is to visit self-declared Gráinne superfan Mairtín O’Toole. It is Ms Seoige’s third attempt to catch the elusive man, who said he would give her a vote if he could get a hug.
And so the Connemara canvass crew lands on his doorstep without warning, and while he is momentarily thrown, due to the fact that he is in his pyjamas, that quickly fades away as he sees Ms Seoige.
Mairtín gets his hug and you would be hard pushed to find a happier man in Galway. “I can die happy now,” he jokes.
The rest of the day carries on in much the same fashion, although slightly less enthusiastic than Mairtín. We arrive at doors to pleasant greetings, promises of votes, requests for selfies, all very positive.
At one house is Mairéad, a nurse from Limerick who works in Galway University Hospital, and who thanks Ms Seoige for highlighting the issue of cancer care in the area.
The presenter received a backlash for an ad saying cancer outcomes in Galway are the worst in the country, which Fine Gael labelled as “scaremongering”.
Mairéad says it was not taken as a slight against staff or the care received by patients but a plea for investment to update services that badly need it, with Ms Seoige confirming that this is exactly the point she intended to make.
Canvassing across the bay from Rosmuc, where Ms Seoige grew up, there is great support to get one of their own up to the Dáil, while others highlight the benefits of a Gaeilgeoir representing them, and the need for more women in government.
The team Ms Seoige has around her provides vital support. To some, this is a well-worn canvass trail as they had gone out in support of Éamon Ó Cuív for decades. One team member with an encyclopedic knowledge of the area and its residents makes introductions at the door, though after the candidate’s 25+ years on our screens, it is rarely needed. They also provide information on who’s who as we approach some of the houses.
Ms Seoige relies heavily on Ó Cuív supporters sending their vote her way now that the long-sitting TD has retired, but sources in the county say this may not be the reality.
That Ms Seoige was recruited by the higher-ups in the party and selected ahead of councillors who felt they had put in the hard yards and deserved the opportunity to run for TD has become a point of contention.
While the grassroots will not vote against the party, much of the Fianna Fáil support has been thrown in behind running mate Mr Connolly and it now seems the Fianna Fáil pair are in competition with each other as much as with their other opponents.
Among the issues Ms Seoige is campaigning on is the difficulty of getting planning in the area and the knock-on effect it is having on younger families who are having to move out of the area. The Planning Bill which was signed into law last month will address many of these issues.
Women’s health is another issue Ms Seoige speaks strongly about, and when asked what she would focus on if elected, she says raising awareness around perimenopause.
The co-founder of a bespoke diamond-dealing business, she has also called for a senior ministry for the Gaeltacht.
"Unless it is supported, in a couple of generations it will be gone," says Ms Seoige.
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