Following the recent tragic and untimely passing of Councillor John Naughten, Fine Gael has announced the selection of Senator Aisling Dolan as his replacement for the Roscommon-Galway constituency in the forthcoming General Election. Dolan, from Ballinasloe, had narrowly missed out on the nomination at the party’s convention, finishing a handful of votes short.
She now joins Dympna Daly Finn as Fine Gael’s representatives in the constituency, marking a notable moment with two female candidates on the party’s Roscommon-Galway ticket.
“It is an honour to be asked by An Taoiseach Simon Harris to go forward as a Fine Gael General Election candidate for Roscommon-Galway,” Dolan said, expressing her gratitude for the opportunity. She added that she aims to build on her record of securing substantial funding for community projects over the past five years.
Since becoming a senator in 2020, Dolan says she has been involved in multiple local initiatives, including the €450 million Ballaghaderreen to Scramogue road development and expansions at the Sacred Heart Residential Hospital in Roscommon and Portiuncula University Hospital in Ballinasloe. She emphasised that healthcare, investment and the environment will be central to her campaign, while also underscoring the need for the expansion of Portiuncula Hospital’s emergency department.
Dolan highlighted the ongoing challenges faced by rural communities, noting that, although the west has benefited from €60 million in rural development and town regeneration funds over the past five years, issues such as housing vacancy and dereliction persist: “Retrofitting older homes to bring down heating costs, more vacant home refurbishment to create new homes for families, are all issues I hope to continue working on”.
Speaking to the Roscommon People, the senator also acknowledged the mounting pressures on farming families, calling attention to the regulatory challenges faced by producers of “the highest quality grass-fed beef and dairy”. Dolan affirmed her commitment to advocating for increased supports for farmers, emphasising their importance to rural communities.
Dolan, who received 5,466 first-preference votes in the 2020 General Election before being eliminated on the fourth count with 6,162 votes, hopes to build on her past performance and strengthen Fine Gael’s presence in the region: “To secure inward investment, I strongly believe we need a Fine Gael government TD for Roscommon-Galway to be a strong voice for the west”.
Fine Gael’s selection of Dolan and Daly Finn positions the party to address key local issues ahead of what is expected to be a closely contested election in Roscommon-Galway.
