Constituency: Galway East

Seán Canney has been an Independent councillor for since 2004, and is a former Mayor of County Galway. In the 2011 general election he received 9.4 pc of the first preference votes. He was dismissed during the sixth round of counting. He is vice-chairperson of the Inter County Rail Committee and believes Rural Ireland needs extensive investment to ensure its economic survival. His brother-in-law Paddy McHugh was an Independent TD for the constituency from 2002 to 2007.

Ciaran Cannon was elected a TD for Fine Gael in the 2011 General Election, having formerly run in 2007 for the Progressive Democrats. He also served as Minister for Training & Skills at the Department of Education & Skills for a time. Mr Cannon was first elected to Galway County Council in June 2004, to represent the Loughrea Electoral Area. He was on of the Taoiseach’s nominations to Seanad Eireann after the 2007 General Election. He has been the chairperson of the Carrabane Community Council and Scout Leader for the local Scout unit, he is involved in the Irish Pilgrimage Trust – a charity which cares for children and young people with disabilities. Mr Cannon lives in Athenry with his wife Niamh and son Evan.

Paul Connaughton Jnr was elected a TD for the Galway-East constituency for the first time in 2011. The Fine Gael man’s father, Paul Connaughton Snr was a TD for the constituency from 1981 until stepping down in 2011. He stepped into his fathers role in the constituency from 2011. Mr Connaughton Jnr has a Marketing Degree from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and also has a Certificate in Agriculture from Mountbellew Agricultural College as well as a H. Dip in Marketing from NUI Galway. He is an avid fan of GAA and soccer.

Galway’s longest serving County Councillor Michael Fahy is running as an Independent candidate for the 2016 general election. Elected for Fianna Fáil in 1979 he left the party in 2004 while being investigated by Gardaí for allegedly misappropriating council funding. He was jailed in 2007 but had his conviction overturned by the court of criminal appeal in 2011. A passionate advocate for rural Ireland this is his second time running in a general election.

Labour’s Lorraine Higgins was nominated to the Seanad in 2011 by the Taoiseach. She unsuccessfully contested the 2009 local elections for Galway County Council as an Independent; after which she failed to gain a seat as a Labour candidate for the Dáil in 2011. She also contested the European elections in 2014 for the Midlands North West constituency but did not win a seat. Senator Higgins is a qualified barrister and acts as Labour’s Seanad spokesperson on fc oreign affairs, trade and reform.

Colm Keaveney is a Fianna Fail TD in the Galway-East constituency. The former Labour party man ran for election in both 1997 and 2007 unsuccessfully before finally running successfully in 2011. When elected he was a member of the Labour party, where he served for a time as the party whip. He left the party in 2013 and subsequently joined Fianna Fail later that year. He is the current Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Mental Health and Special Needs.

Tuam-based factory worker Aengus Melia (37) has been an active campaigner against water charges. A proponent of direct democracy, whereby constituents can vote on State policy and recall TDs, he is a first-time election candidate for Direct Democracy Ireland.

Máiréad Ni Chroinin (35) is contesting her second general election for Galway East, having previously run for the 30th Dáil in 2007. A politics graduate from Glasgow University, she, along with her sister, founded the Moonfish Theatre group in Galway. She was numerous awards for theatre and writing and is active campaigner for the Green Party. Alongside the policies of the Greens, Ms Ni Chroinin wants to see a nationwide flooding prevention scheme rolled out.

A Galway County Councillor since 2014, Anne Rabbitte lists farming, education, health, childcare, social housing and support for the elderly among her priorities for the 2016 general election. A widowed mother-of-three, she was elected to Galway County Council on her first attempt in 2014 for Fianna Fáil. A full-time financial worker with some 20 years experience, she chairs the council's Finance Committee .

Community activist and voluntary worker Annemarie Roche has been selected by Sinn Féin to contest the 2016 general election for Galway East. She holds a Masters in Public Advocacy and Activism from NUI Galway and is a member of a number of local voluntary groups, including the Galway Traveller Movement, Loughrea Caring and Sharing Association, and Brothers of Charity, Galway. By her own accounts, if elected she will push for more of the public expenditure budget to be invested in Western Ireland.