Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses

Adrian Kavanagh, First posted 31st October 2018, with updates as new candidate nominations announced. Any links in this post are to online announcements of candidate selections – there will be no specific links to candidate webpages.

The fifth of my series of rolling blog posts, in which I detail the latest information as to candidate selections relating to the different political parties and grouping and/or candidate declarations (as in the case of the non-party grouping). The rule of thumb here is that I will add party candidates in most cases only after they have been officially selected to run for the party at a selection convention or by some other means of candidate selection. I try my best to find information about local election candidate selection conventions, but in some cases this information is hard to find and occasionally it can be some time after a convention takes place before I find this information and hence am in a position to update this page accordingly.

The post will focus on Fianna Fáil candidate selections ahead of the 2019 City and County Council elections. 

After a disastrous series of elections (2009 Local and European Elections, 2011 General Election) across the period extending from the onset of the Economic Crisis in 2008 to the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government leaving office in early 2011, Fianna Fáil made some significant gains at the 2014 City and County Council elections. Winning 267 seats in these contests, Fianna Fáil once again became the largest party at the local authority ahead of Fine Gael although Fine Gael would retain their position as largest party in the state at general election contest at the subsequent 2016 General Election. Defections from the party reduced the overall number of Fianna Fáil City and County Councillors over the coming years, but this has been somewhat offset by the fact that one Councillor decided to join the party over this same period. According to my best estimates, I currently estimate that there are 262 Fianna Fáil City and County Councillors.

Even though the party’s support figure trends recent opinion polls have been decidedly mixed, Fianna Fáil may well approach the 2019 Local Elections with the expectation of making a number of further gains. The changing local election boundaries could potentially help Fianna Fáill (and work against the smaller parties), given that lower district magnitudes are generally expected to give the largest political parties a “seat bonus”. While this applies very much to general elections, however, sometimes the “local” nature of City and County Council elections can mean that the potential for such a “seat bonus” is not as strong as might be anticipated.

As of now (December 18th 2018), one hundred and eighty four Fianna Fáil local election candidates are listed on this page. Thirty four of these candidates are women (18.5%) and one hundred and fifty of these are men (81.5%). As far as I am aware, (at least) eighty eight Fianna Fáil selection conventions have taken place so far.

The candidates that have been officially selected to contest the 2019 Local Elections as Fianna Fáil candidates include:

(Please note that, as in the other similar posts, any links that are provided here are to posts/newspaper reports offering “evidence” of their candidatures and will normally not link back to candidate websites.):

I will be adding to this list as and when I come across further Fianna Fáil candidate selections.

The Fianna Fail selection convention for Kanturk took place in Newmarket on 26th October 2018. Three candidates were nominated to contest this selection convention, but former councillor, Bart Donegan, withdrew in advance of the convention.

The selection convention for Ballymun-Finglas and Artane-Whitehall took place on 30th October 2018 and three candidates – all incumbents – were selected at this.

On 2nd November Cllr. Patrick Murphy and George A. Gill were selected as candidates for the Bantry electoral area at the selection convention for that constituency.

Cllr. Cormac Devlin and Justin Moylan were selected as party candidates for the Dún Laoghaire electoral area at a selection convention, which took place in Benitos restaurant in Dalkey on 5th November 2018.

The selection convention for the Adare-Rathkeale electoral area took place on 8th November 2018. There were three nominations for three places on the Fianna Fáil ticket for this electoral area – Trina O’Dea (Croom), Bridie Collins (Adare) and Cllr. Kevin Sheahan (Adare).

The Fianna Fáil selection convention for Mallow took place on 12th November 2018. Once candidate – Cllr. Gearóid Murphy – was nominated to contest this and thus selected.

Cllr. Tom Brabazon was selected to contest the Donaghmede electoral area on 14th November 2018.

With Cllr. Ronan McKenna deciding not to contest the next local elections, an all-female three-candidate ticket was selected to contest the local elections for Fianna Fáil in the Trim electoral area on 15th November  2018, as reported by the Meath Chronicle (16th November 2018).

As reported on the Laois Today website (19th November 2018), the selection convention for Portlaoise was held in the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise on Monday 19th November 2018. While two of the incumbents were selected at this, Cllr. Pauline Madigan, who had been co-opted onto the Council a few months earlier, failed to win a nomination. As reported by the Leinster Express (20th November 2018), there was a separate convention for the area outside the Portlaoise urban area, in which Cllr. John Joe Fennelly was unopposed, as well as a separate convention to select two candidates from the Portlaoise urban area, in which Cllr. Catherine Fitzgerald and Donal Kelly were selected. Pauline Madigan was subsequently added to the Fianna Fáil ticket.

As reported by the Clare Echo (25th November 2018), the Fianna Fáil selection convention for the Killaloe electoral area took place in Tulla on 23rd November, with the three incumbents being selected following a vote involving c.150 party members – Liam Wiley lost out. The Listowel selection convention also took place on that same night in Listowel, as reported by the Radio Kerry website (24th November 2018). Selection conventions took place for some of the electoral areas in the Dublin South-West Dáil constituency area on 26th November (Tallaght-Central, Firhouse-Bohernabreena, Rathfarnham-Templeogue). As reported in the Limerick Leader (27th November 2018), a number of Fianna Fáil selection conventions took place in Limerick City in the last week of November. In the Limerick City North convention, where it was decided that only one candidate would be selected at the convention, Cllr. Kieran O’Hanlon lost out in the convention vote (won by Christy McInerney), although it is expected that he will be subsequently added to the Fianna Féil ticket for that electoral area (as indeed he was on 13th December 2018). Three conventions took place for the electoral areas in Waterford City on 29th November; all four incumbents were selected, as well as Rita Lacey (in the Tramore-Waterford City West electoral area). As reported by The Enniscorthy Guardian, the selection convention for Enniscorthy also took place in late November 2018.

The selection convention for Bandon-Kinsale took place on 1st December – this was also contested by Sean O’Donovan. Selection conventions for the Galway City electoral areas took place on 3rd December, as did the convention for Cashel-Tipperary, while the convention for the New Ross electoral area also took place on that night in the Horse and Hound in Ballinaboola. The selection convention for the Carlow (Town) electoral area took place on 1st December and the selection conventions for the Killarney and Castlebar electoral areas took place on the following day. The convention for the Piltown electoral area took place in Mullinavat on 4th December 2018, while the Castleknock selection convention also took place on that same night. The convention for Ballyjamesduff took place on 5th December 2018 and this selected the same candidate team as had contested this electoral area in 2014 – Shirley Byers and Michael Smollen also contested this convention, while the convention for Glencullen-Sandyford also took place on that same night. Selection conventions for the Borris in Ossory-Mountmellick and Graiguecullen-Portarlington electoral areas in Laois are scheduled to take place on Thursday 6th December 2018, as reported on the Laois Today (4th December 2018) website. The three candidates for the Graiguecullen-Portarlington electoral area and the three candidates based in the northern half of Borris-in-Ossory-Mountmellick were all automatically selected, but there was a vote for the remaining position on the Borris-in-Ossory-Mountmellick ticket, involving two candidates from the southern part of that constituency, as reported by the Laois Voice (6th December 2018); Seam Mortimer from Camross lost out in this vote. Selection conventions for the Sligo-Strandhill and Sligo-Drumcliff electoral areas also took place on this same night, as reported on the Ocean FM website (7th December 2018), while conventions were also held for the two Drogheda electoral areas (as noted on the LMFM website (7th December 2018)). The selection convention for the Clonmel and Carrick on Suir electoral areas took place on 7th December 2018, as did the conventions for the Lismore and Dungarvan electoral areas in Waterford County.

As reported by the Clare Echo (10th December 2018), selection conventions for three electoral areas in Clare took place on 9th December 2018 – Ennis, Ennistimon and Shannon. The Ennis selection convention was contested – “Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy topped the poll and was followed by Cllr Pat Daly, former councillor Bernard Hanrahan and Mark Nestor finished in third and fourth respectively” – but the intial decision to select just two candidates at the convention was maintained despite call from the attendees to be allowed to select more candidates. The selection convention for the Athlone (Westmeath) electoral area also took place on 9th December 2018, while the selection conventions for Rush-Lusk took place in Murray’s in Lusk on 10th December 2018, as well as the convention for the South Central and South West electoral areas in Cork City.  As reported on the Northern Sound website (11th December 2018), the convention for the Monaghan electoral area was held on 10th December 2018; this was a contested convention with just one candidate to be selected and Cllr. Raymond Aughey lost out in the vote to Emer Brennan. The selection convention for the An Daingean electoral area also took place on 10th December 2018 in Milltown, as reported on the Killarney Today (11th December 2018) website. Selection conventions for Ballybay-Clones, Ardee, Ratoath, Lucan and Clondalkin electoral areas all took place on 11th December 2018. The Ballybay-Clones convention was also contested by Therese Hamilton. Selection conventions for Cappaghmore-Kilmallock, Westport, Newbridge, Gorey and North Inner City took place on 13th December 2018. The Newbridge convention was contested, with Antoinette Buckley and Murty Aspel losing out in the convention vote.

As reported on the Shannonside Radio (15th December 2018) website, selection conventions for the electoral areas in Co. Leitrim toook place in early December. The selection convention for the Roscommon/Mid Roscommon electoral area took place on 14th December 2018, with two candidates to be selected out of a choice of four, as reported on the Shannonside Radio website (15th December 2018). Larry Brennan, as well as Cllr. Paschal Fitzmaurice – who had topped the pol in this electoral area at the 2014 Local Elections – both lost out in this vote. As reported on the MidWest Radio website (15th December 2018), it was expected that Cllr. Fitzmaurice would be subsequently added to the ticket and indeed he was only a few days later. The selection convention for the Birr electoral area, which also took place on 14th December 2018, was also contested, with Alan Kenny losing out in that vote (two candidates selected from a choice of three). As reported by the Longford Leader (16th December 2018), the selection convention for the Ballymahon electoral area also took place on 14th December 2018 The selection convention for Ballymote-Tobercurry took place on 16th December 2018. A number of convention also took place in Kilkenny county over that same weekend, as reported on the KCLR radio website (17th December 2018); the convention for Kilkenny City was contested, with former councillor, John Coonan, losing out in that vote. The selection conventions for the Blackrock, Maynooth, Naas, Athlone (Roscommon), Greystones and Kenmare electoral areas took place on 17th December 2018.