Adrian Kavanagh, 14th January 2014 

As noted in the earlier post on the Fine Gael TDs who lost their seats at the 2002 General Election, former TDs can often decide to contest the following local elections after having lost their seats, in many cases in the hope that this can act as a stepping stone towards rebuilding their national careers although some of these may finish their political careers at the local level. Fine Gael TDs, such as Michael Creed and PJ Sheehan, were able to use victory at the 2004 Local Elections as a stepping stone to regaining their Dail seats at the 2007 General Election, having lost these in the 2002 contest.  The 2009 Local Elections were also contested by candidates such as Joe Higgins and Catherine Murphy, who had lost their seats at the 2007 election but would go on to successfully regain their seats at the 2011 contest (Higgins, of course, immediately gave up his Fingal County Council seat as he also won a seat in the European Elections on the same day).

It would be expected that these local elections will be contested by a number of the candidates who lost their Dail seats at the 2011 General Election and this indeed proves to be the case, although there are also some candidates who lost their seats at an earlier general election and did not succeed in regaining these seats at the 2011 contest. At present I account for nineteen candidates in this group (twelve lost their Dail seats at the 2011 contest, while five lost/did not contest their Dail seats at the 2007 election, one lost his seat at the 2002 contest and one lost his seat at the 1997 contest). Tony Dempsey did not actually lose his seat at a general election, but instead decided not to defend his Dail seat in 2007.

These candidates are:

James Breen Independent – contesting Ennis (Clare)

Michael Ahern Fianna Fail – contesting Cobh (Cork County)

Gerard Murphy Fine Gael – contesting Kanturk-Mallow (Cork County)

Dan Boyle Green Party – contesting Cork City South East (Cork City)

Sean Haughey Fianna Fail – contesting Clontarf (Dublin City)

Ciaran Cuffe Green Party – contesting North Inner City (Dublin City) 

Chris Andrews Sinn Fein (lost seat as a Fianna Fail candidate) – contesting Pembroke-South Dock (Dublin City) 

Paul Gogarty Independent (lost seat as a Green Party candidate) – contesting Lucan electoral area (South Dublin County)

Charlie O’Connor Fianna Fail – contesting Tallaght Central (South Dublin County) 

Mary Hanafin Fianna Fail – contesting Blackrock (Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown) 

Tom McEllistrim Fianna Fail – contesting Tralee (Kerry County) 

Sean Power Fianna Fail – contesting Kildare-Newbridge (Kildare County)

John Farrelly Fine Gael – contesting Kells (Meath County) 

Margaret Conlon Fianna Fail – contesting Carrickmacross-Castleblaney (Monaghan County) 

Paudge Connolly Independent – contesting Monaghan (Monaghan County) 

Eamon Scanlon Fianna Fail – contesting Ballymote-Tubbercurry (Sligo County) 

Declan Bree United Left (lost seat as a Labour Party candidate) – contesting Sligo electoral area (Sligo County) 

Tony Dempsey Fianna Fail – contesting Wexford (Wexford County) 

Joe Behan Independemt – contesting Bray (Wicklow County) 

Eddie Wade Fianna Fail was selected to contest the Cappamore-Kilmallock electoral area (Limerick County) but he has announced that he would not be contesting the elections and would be retiring from politics.

Gerry Reynolds Fine Gael was selected to contest the Carrick on Shannon electoral area (Leitrim County) but he announced on 18th February that he would not be contesting the elections and would be retiring from politics.

Sean Connick Fianna Fail was selected to contest the New Ross electoral area, but announced he was withdrawing from the contest and retiring from politics in mid April after having been appointed CEO of the John F Kennedy Trust.