'This is the time I need to do it': Helen Ogbu looks to make history in Galway West by-election

If victorious in the by-election on Friday, May 22, the Labour candidate will be the first woman of colour elected to Dáil Éireann

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik (right) with Galway West by-election candidate Helen Ogbu (left). File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Despite the cool evening air, the smell of freshly laid tar lingered in the summer sunshine as Labour canvassers for Helen Ogbu took to the streets of Galway West.

This was no ordinary road, however. In an unsuspecting house towards the bottom of the street lies the abode of President Catherine Connolly. While she had been home earlier in the day on Thursday, she had returned to Áras an Uachtaráin a few hours earlier.