Cllr Catherine Connolly confirmed to the Sunday Tribune that she will be standing as an independent candidate.

"My organisation will support me, although it is not going to be easy, " she said.

She said her decision was motivated by a combination of issues, including a lack of party ambition in Galway West, where the prospect of Labour running two general election candidates was shot down by the national party hierarchy.

Connolly, who supported Pat Rabbitte's leadership campaign in 2002, was sharply critical of his tenure as party leader. "I expected more from him. His leadership has not distinguished itself. His comments in relation to Polish workers were the final straw for me, " she said.

Connolly said her sister Collette, who was also elected as a Labour councillor in 2004, "will be supporting me fully".

The arrival of Connolly as an independent further complicates the five-seat Galway West constituency, where all the main parties have candidate selection problems.

Fianna Fail looks set to add a former independent councillor, Michael Crowe, to its ticket along with Eamon O Cuiv and Frank Fahey.

The party's selection convention ended in acrimony last January and interviews with prospective candidates were held in early May.

One of those interviewed, Cllr John Connolly, recently withdrew from the process following strong speculation that Crowe was likely to be selected.

Fine Gael will go into the next election with a new team of candidates in Galway West following the retirement of sitting TD Padraic McCormack. The new mayor of Galway, Niall O Brolchain, has been selected for the Green Party.

Both O Brolchain and Connolly will put pressure on Higgins, a former Labour minister, who has contested 13 Dail elections since 1969 and was first elected in 1981.

Connolly is the latest headache for Labour as the party seeks to finalise its general election candidates.

Last week, the party leadership was strongly criticised in public by Aidan Culhane, the party's Dublin South candidate.

Culhane, who succeeded in seeing off an attempt to add a second candidate, accused Rabbitte of pursuing a strategy that would "hinder" the party's chances of winning a seat in the constituency.