Galway West: Fianna Fáil's young Cillian Keane wooing voters for transfers

Political Correspondent Louise Burne joined the youngest candidate in Friday's by-election as he put in the work on the doorsteps

While a recent poll says Fianna Fáil's Cillian Keane has just 8% support in Galway West, he is mindful that the same pollsters gave John Connolly a 7% rating before the general election and he won a seat. Picture: Facebook

“I don’t know whether he is selling you as a prospective husband for my daughter, or a candidate,” Tina told Fianna Fáil’s Cillian Keane as he ran up the driveway of her Galway home.

Fianna Fáil senator Ollie Crowe was on the hard sell, telling residents on the Menlo Rd all about the party’s 25-year-old candidate in the Galway West by-election.

He was already spoken for, Mr Keane told Tina, but he would appreciate a vote in Friday’s by-election instead.

She said she would not be able to give him her number one preference in Friday’s election, but she would give a vote of some description.

That was fine, Mr Keane told her. But would she consider putting him as high as she could on the ballot paper?

“Second is as good,” Mr Crowe told her.

Transfers will be crucial  

“It will all be down to transfers,” Mr Keane followed up.

It was a common message as he knocked on the doors in Menlo in Galway West; if they would not give him a first preference, consider him as their second or third choice.

Mr Keane has been a councillor since the 2024 local elections, when he was elected at just 23 years old.

At 25, he is the youngest candidate on the ballot paper seeking to take the seat vacated by Catherine Connolly following her election as President last November.

He has had his eye on the ball since her move to the Áras, he told the Irish Examiner. But now, with just days to go until polling day, the door-knocking is intensifying.

It will be an uphill battle for the train enthusiast, with an Irish Times/TG4 poll putting him on just 8%.

However, he is determined to keep chugging along.

“There’s only one poll that matters,” Mr Keane said. “Look at [Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West] John Connolly in the last general election.

“I’m focusing on the doors, I’ve been to places around this consistency where nobody else has canvassed, got a good response.”

The same TG4 poll put Mr Connolly on just 7% before the general election. He won a seat.

A by-election is a much tougher beast.

Cillian Keane's youth highlighted 

As he shook hands around Menlo, Cillian Keane told constituent after constituent that “we need a bit of youth”.

Sometimes, that youth showed. As she held her tot in her arms, Kate Goggin raised concerns about the cost of childcare. With two young children, it is a “huge struggle”, and she wanted to know what he planned to do about it.

Hard-working families need a break, he told her.

“SUSI [education grants authority] was one that I looked at first, and it wouldn’t affect you yet. But in terms of looking at relief from the mortgage…” he trailed off.

With two toddlers, Ms Goggin was not familiar with SUSI. Grants for college students would not provide any relief for her family for a long time. Junior minister Robert Troy quickly intervened, saying there was a commitment to bring the cost of childcare down to €200 a month over the lifetime of this Government.

Ms Goggin later told the Irish Examiner that the current Government is “not in touch with reality at all” when it comes to childcare.

A little while down the road, Mr Crowe and Mr Connolly were in full conversation with a cyclist about GAA.

Mr Connolly reminisced about his team playing a Junior C county final in 1999. Mr Keane was only born in 2001.

And while the hard sell may continue between now and then, Fianna Fáil will have to hope that youth wins out over experience.

• Louise Burne, Political Correspondent