FIREWORKS are expected in Galway this week when the Fianna Fail contingent arrives for the races at Ballybrit.

The pyrotechnics will have nothing to do with gladhanding at the party's fundraising tent but will centre on another public row over candidate selection. Bertie Ahern is expected to use his arrival in the city of the tribes to announce Mike Crowe as a general election candidate.

The news will be greeted in some party circles in a manner that will make Jim McDaid's tantrum over the Blaney return seem like a jolly old tea party. Crowe was elected as an independent at the 2004 local elections and only recently joined Fianna Fail.

Speculation abounds in the five seat constituency that he'll be confirmed this week on the party ticket that already includes Eamon O Cuiv and Frank Fahey. In fact Crowe's selection is already decided . . . he's booked adverts with this week's local papers in Galway announcing his decision to run.

Relations between the Fianna Fail hierarchy and the local constituency organisation are already poor. A major public row broke out at the party's selection convention earlier in the year over the number of candidates to be chosen by party members. Amid uproar from many delegates the convention was suspended. It was later decided to hold interviews to fill the additional places alongside O Cuiv and Fahey.

It's not clear if a fourth candidate will also be added, perhaps from among the also rans who went before the aborted selection convention. Ahern will be boogeying to the tunes of Brendan Shine . . . Do you want your old lobby washed down, sunshine? . . . at a party function on Wednesday evening. But the only washing being done may well be with Fianna Fail's dirty linen. Galway West is just one of several constituencies where Fianna Fail officials have encountered local resistance over the candidate selection.

The search for a running mate for Dick Roche in Wicklow continues without any apparent success. Not that Fianna Fail is unique. Jimmy Harte, who was elected as a Fine Gael councillor in 2004 and whose father Paddy was a Fine Gael minister, will tomorrow evening confirm his decision to run in Donegal North East as an independent.

"Be Smart, Vote Harte, " is the campaign slogan. Meanwhile, Labour, having already lost Catherine Connolly in Galway West, still faces the prospect of seeing Robert Dowds challenge Senator Joanna Tuffy in Dublin Mid West. All politics is local, the saying goes, but for the main political parties the choices made in these handful of constituencies will be the difference between government and opposition after the next general election.

CAB definite onCarrickmines bribes

THE planning tribunal may be trundling along at Dublin Castle, but the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has reached a very definite conclusion on the evidence heard over the rezoning of 17 acres of land at Carrickmines in South County Dublin. CAB boss Felix McKenna told the High Court last week that the rezoning of the Jackson Way owned land from agricultural to industrial was secured through "corrupt payments to county councillors".

Frank Dunlop has told the tribunal he bribed local politicians on behalf of businessman Jim Kennedy and solicitor John Caldwell, the two men behind Jackson Way. Kennedy has refused to assist the tribunal but from his homes in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar but he must be fretting over the potential confiscation of the multi-million euro Carrickmines asset.

The interesting matter now is what action will be taken about the councillors who took money from Dunlop especially as the CAB has branded them corrupt in the High Court.

Electoral growth checked but Sinn Feinmay have say on next Taoiseach

TWELVEmonths on from the IRA's decision to "dump arms", Michael McDowell is happy to give the republican movement a clean bill of health in relation to its involvement in military activities.

Over the last year, much of the hype surrounding Sinn Fein's electoral growth has been checked.

The party is still looking at an extra three to four seats at the next election. Pearse Doherty, who did well in the 2004 European elections, will certainly put one of the two Fianna Fail seats in Donegal South West under threat. Agriculture minister Mary Coughlan will have to watch her back. In the neighbouring Donegal North East Padraig Mac Lochlainn may be the only winner from the fall-out over Niall Blaney joining Fianna Fail.

In the capital, Mary Lou McDonald may be quitting the European Parliament next summer when she's elected a Dail deputy for Dublin Central. There's a good chance she will be joined by Larry O'Toole in Dublin North East, Dessie Ellis in Dublin North West and maybe, as a big surprise, Joanne Spain in Dublin Mid West.

Nobody expects Sinn Fein to be in government after the next election but don't bet against the party having a say in the election of the next Taoiseach especially if Fianna Fail and the PDs are within a shout of a Dail majority. Sinn Fein could have a final say through their support for Ahern . . . or even an abstention on his nomination . . .

and a vote against Enda Kenny. The Workers' Party were the great untouchables in early 1982 but Fianna Fail didn't turn down their support to secure power.