Battle lines being drawn for mings byelection contest

By Tony Galvin

THE Roscommon by-election caused by the election of Deputy Luke 'Ming’ Flanagan to the European Parliament is expected to be confirmed for Friday, October 10 in the coming days.
The by-election will be watched with considerable interest in East Galway, as whoever is elected will undoubtably be seeking to retain the seat in the newly created Galway-Roscommon constituency at the 2016 general election.
There is much jockeying for position but at this stage but the current favorite is Fianna Fail’s Ivan Connaughton, who is a member of Roscommon Co Council and ran unsuccessfully in the existing Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency in 2011.
Connaughton is an auctioneer and lives in Athleague.
He is understood to be unhappy to be saddled with the often burdensome favorite tag but the perception abroad is that this is Fianna Fail’s election to lose.