Constituency: Roscommon-Galway

Vincent Beirne is from Frenchpark in Co Roscommon and is a shaman. He has organised protests against refugee accommodation in Castlerea. Mr Beirne says there is a lack of respect by the government for the community.

A GP by profession Dr. Martin Daly is a team doctor with Roscommon GAA and a former president of the Irish Medical Organisation. He is an advocate of protecting rural patients’ access to GP practices.  He is a long-time member of Fianna Fáil and has a high profile in the local community. He has been very vocal on a number of issues in recent years and had made it clear that he has political ambitions. This is his first run for election but he contested for the Seanad as an Independent candidate on the National University of Ireland panel in 2016.

Hailing from Arigna, a small coal mining village in Roscommon, Dympna Daly-Finn works as an Auxiliary Nurse at Sligo University Hospital. She was first selected by Fine Gael to run alongside sitting councillor Liam Callaghan in Boyle Local Electoral Area for the recent local elections where she lost the seat to her party colleague by just three votes. Ms. Finn was selected to represent Fine Gael in the general election 2024 alongside Cllr John Naughten, who passed away suddenly. She is passionate to work for the development of Rural Ireland while focusing on agriculture sector and mental health.

Ballinasloe Senator Aisling Dolan was selected by Fine Gael to run in the election in place of the late John Naughten, who had narrowly defeated her at a party selection convention in September. Coming from a farming background, Ms Dolan was first elected a councillor during the 2019 local elections and later represented Fine Gael in the 2019 General Election. She was later elected to Seanad Eireann in 2020 where she became a spokesperson for Education, Higher Education, Research and Innovation. Senator Dolan is an Arts graduate of NUI Galway with a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Languages for Business. With training in export marketing and a Diploma in Project Management, she is focused on developing East Galway and Roscommon as a location for future development and investment.

Michael Fitzmaurice has been a TD for the Roscommon-Galway constituency since its formation in 2016 and was a TD for Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency from 2014-2016. Born into a small farm family, Mr Fitzmaurice runs an agricultural and Turf Contracting business and is chairperson of the ‘Turf Cutters and Contractors Association’. He first entered politics after getting elected to Galway County Council for Tuam LEA in 2014 and soon entered the national political arena by winning the by-election held after Luke Ming Flanagan was elected to the European Parliament. Mr. Fitzmaurice advocates in favour of turf cutting and is a critic of ‘Environmental Vegetarianism’. He had been an independent politician until February 2024, when he joined the newly formed party Independent Ireland.

Claire Kerrane has been a Sinn Féin TD for the Roscommon-Galway constituency since 2020. Ms Kerrane became active in politics at an early age of 15 when she joined Ógra Shinn Féin and was an organiser for the party during her college days in NUI Galway (now University of Galway). She worked as a parliamentary assistant to independent TD Luke Ming Flanagan after his election in 2011 and later became a political adviser on Social Protection for Sinn Féin in Leinster House. Ms Kerrane became a TD for the first time in the 2020 general elections, replacing Fianna Fáil’s Eugene Murphy.

Andrew Mannion from Ballinasloe ran for the first time in the Local Elections earlier this year, but was unsuccessful. Representing People Before Profit in the general election in Roscommom-Galway, he is an active trade union member and works as a support worker for the Brothers of Charity in Ballinasloe. Being involved in organised workers strikes and collective action in trade unions introduced him to politics. He wants to work on bringing in younger generations to the trade unions while also focusing on worker-centric politics.

Eugene Muphy is a former Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since June 2020. He served as a TD for the Roscommon–Galway constituency from 2016 to 2020 but lost his seat in 2020. Mr Murphy was a member of Roscommon County Council for the Boyle local electoral area from 1985 to 2016 and works as a producer and presenter with local radio stations Shannonside and Northern Sound. He sought a nomination from Fianna Fáil to be selected as a candidate in Roscommon–Galway at the forthcoming election, but lost the constituency selection vote. On November 4, after the party told him he would not be added to their general election ticket, Mr. Murphy announced that he would contest as an independent candidate.

Cormac O Corcoráin is a native of Newcastle, Co Galway, and ran for Galway-West constituency in the 2020 General Election, but has now been switched to the Roscommon-Galway electoral area. He has been involved in volunteering works for multiple local community organisations for over 20 years. He has taken part in flood relief work, as well as street clean-ups with his local residents’ group and has supported the turf cutters rights. Mr O Corcoráin campaigned against the introduction of property tax on the home and fundraised for crisis pregnancy support services along with perinatal hospice care to be set up in Galway, as well as for the services provided by the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps in Galway.

With a 30 years experience in nursing, Martina O’Connor was first elected to the Galway City Council in 2019 and served as the Deputy Mayor until the recent local elections where she lost her seat. She is passionate about being the voice for minorities and has served as the chair of the Climate Change, Environment, Recreation and Amenity SPC in Galway. Her belief that our health is tied into our environment had kicked her interest into the Green Party. She comes from a working-class background and sees health, education, and housing as ways to improve one’s quality of life.

Alan Sweeney is a pharmaceutical scientist from Kilcolgan. He unsuccessfully ran in the local elections this year in the Gort/Kinvara LEA, receiving 296 votes.