Constituents form huge voting block

Over 85,000 people have registered to vote in Dublin Mid-West for the upcoming Presidential election on Friday, October 24.

85,112 electors in the county constituency will cast their vote to help the country decide who will become the nation’s 10th president.

Dublin Mid-West contains the areas of Clondalkin, Lucan, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Palmerstown and Saggart.

71,384 people will make their way to polling stations across areas in Dublin’s South-Central constituency.

Areas encompassed within this constituency include Ballyfermot, Drimnagh, Walkinstown, Inchicore and Kimmage.

Both constituencies have garnered a higher number of registered voters than full county constituencies of Laois and Offaly.

113,193 people will go to the polls in Dublin South-West, the constituency for Tallaght, Rathfarnham, Templeogue, Firhouse and Ballyboden voters.

Over 3.6 million people have registered to vote for a new president across the Republic of Ireland.

County Dublin has over 900,000 of the electorate signed up to vote within the county’s constituencies.

Turnout for the 2018 contest which saw President Higgins return to office for a second term was the lowest-ever recorded for a Presidential election.

The 43.9% that voted in the election provided the majority of their first preferences in all constituencies to President Higgins as he won the office.

Presidential hopefuls Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys have been campaigning across the country in order to win votes to succeed the incumbent in office at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Former Ceann Comhairle Connolly is running on an Independent ticket, backed by a bloc of opposition parties such as Labour and Sinn Féin, while ex-government minister Humphreys is the Fine Gael nomination.

Clondalkin native Jim Gavin will also appear on the ballet on Friday, October 24 as the Fianna Fáil nominee, beating Billy Kelleher MEP to secure the nomination.

However, Gavin pulled out of the election on Sunday, October 5 after his campaign was derailed by the resurfacing of a rental dispute dating back to 2009.

His statement announcing his withdrawal said: “The office of Uachtarán na hÉireann is the highest in the land and the pinnacle of public service.

“It is an office that must be untainted by controversy or distraction.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.