Adrian Kavanagh, first posted 5th January 2026 – updated 13th February

This post will list all the officially selected/declared candidates for the upcoming Galway West and Dublin Central by-elections, which will take place at some stage in Spring/early Summer 2026.

As of this point in time, 7 candidates have been selected to contest the Galway West by-election, or have declared their intention to contest this, and 4 (57.1%) of these are women and 3 (42.9%) are men. 3 (42.9%) of the candidates currently hold electoral office – 1 (14.2%) previously held electoral office.

As of this point in time, 7 candidates have been selected to contest the Dublin Central by-election, or have declared their intention to contest this, and 1 (14.2%) of these are women and 6 (85.8%) are men. 2 (28.4%) of the candidates currently hold electoral office

The list of selected/declared candidates for the Galway West and Dublin Central by-election contests includes:

A report in the Galway Advertiser (12 February 2026) noted that Cllr. Mike Cubbard (Independent) was likely to contest the election, but had not finally decided to do so. It also reported that Senator Sean Kyne and Cllr. Eddie Hoare had both announced their intention to contest the Fine Gael selection convention on 22 February. Sandra Hurley for the RTÉ News website (12 February 2026) confirmed that the Fine Gael selection conventiom would also be contested by Eoghan Gallaher, a former President of Young Fine Gael.