Dublin Mid-West by-election set for November 29
By Maurice Garvey
DUBLIN Mid-West is shaping up to be a fascinating battleground in the upcoming by-election - scheduled to take place on Friday, November 29.
One Dáil seat is up for grabs, precipitated by former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald's election to the European Parliament last May.
Dublin Mid-West by-election is set for November 29
An extremely competitive Dublin Mid-West ballot includes three candidates who romped home in first place in their respective constituencies during the Local Elections in May (Paul Gogarty, Emer Higgins, and Mark Ward).
The ballot mix also contains a couple of former TD’s, and a sprinkling of newly elected councillors and candidates who offer something slightly different to voters.
Fine Gael possibly see Dublin Mid-West as their best chance to win one of four by-elections in the State, via Councillor Emer Higgins (FG), who received close to 2,000 first preference votes in Clondalkin at the Local Elections.
However, Cllr Paul Gogarty (Ind) in Lucan, and Cllr Mark Ward (SF), in the Palmerstown-Fonthill area, also secured impressive first preference votes for their local electoral areas, so it will be interesting to see this trio fare out this time around.
Cllr Shane Moynihan (FF), newly elected in May, was selected by Fianna Fáil as the party candidate for this by-election.
It was a move that may have surprised some observers, with Moynihan’s party colleague, Lucan solicitor Ed O’Brien, into his second term as a local representative after his re-election in May. However, the party feel Moynihan, an analytics manager with LinkedIn, is in a good position to challenge for this seat.
Also on the ballot is a familiar face in former TD Joanna Tuffy (Labour) – who was re-elected as a Cllr in May, and held a Dáil seat from 2007-16.
Cllr Francis Timmons (Ind) has strong local support in Clondalkin, but will need to pick up votes further afield to be in contention.
Likewise, newly elected Clondalkin Cllr Peter Kavanagh (Green Party), who could benefit from green tinted momentum.
The Social Democrats Political Director Anne-Marie McNally will be looking to build on her run for a Dáil seat in 2016, which returned a promising vote share of over six per cent in Dublin Mid-West.
With Cllr Madeleine Johansson (PBP) out of the running due to her citizen status (a Swedish native living in Dublin since 2005), Lucan nurse Kellie Sweeney will run for People Before Profit, and has a bit of form with a respectable showing in the local elections.
The overwhelmingly pro-climate change/environmental coverage in national media and public discourse, will not harm the chances of former Green Party TD Paul Gogarty, and in turn, Cllr Peter Kavanagh.
Dublin Mid-West is an interesting dynamic containing a number of strong candidates, but unlike the local elections, this time around, there can only be one winner.
