Who is set for Laois General Election ballot paper so far?
Political change certain in Laois after General Election
As the gun is about to be officially fired on the General Election 2024 there is a pretty clear picture emerging about who might be on the ballot paper in the new three-seat Laois constituency.
The constituency will be one of the most watched in the country because of the turmoil and fallout that has hit Sinn Féin over the resignation from the party of Brian Stanley who topped the poll for the party when he was returned in 2020 in the now dissolved Laois Offaly constituency.
Regardless of who is returned there is certain to be a change in the TDs that Laois people will send to the Dáil to represent them from December onwards. That's because Charlie Flanagan is retiring in politics which will end the presence of a member of the Flanagan family representing Laois voters that dates back to World War II.
Fine Gael wants to replace the former Minister with Cllr Willie Aird. He is their only candidate in the constituency this time. The party ran two in 2016 when Laois was a three-seater with part of Kildare. Cllr Aird has been a councillor in Laois representing Portlaoise since 1979.
Fianna Fáil has also gone for a one-candidate strategy in the shape of incumbent TD and Minister of State Seán Fleming. This will be the seventh General Election for a politician who was first elected in 1997 when Bertie Ahern led Fianna Fáil to his first General Election success as leader.
Engulfed in controversy, ex-Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has declared his intention to run as an independent Republican. He says he has a hill to climb in retaining the seat for a fourth time at a General Election.
Sinn Féin has picked Maria McCormack to win the seat. The former Portlaoise local election candidate insists the seat is a Sinn Féin seat and has the full backing of her party leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Cllr Aisling Moran is also a late entrant to the race. The former Fine Gael county councillor contested and won her first local election in 2019 as a Fine Gael candidate taking over from her father John Moran. He contested the 2011 General Election. Cllr Moran retained her seat on the council in the Graigueculle Portarlington area as an independent.
Elaine Mullally was an early entrant to the race. The Portarlington-based businesswoman was a founder member of Independent Ireland but left the party after the European and Local Elections. It will be her first time to face the people.
Mary Hand is running for Aontú. The teacher at Heywood College near Ballinakill is making her first entry into politics as a candidate. She hails from Graiguecullen.
Rosie Palmer is running for the Green Party which has run candidates in most of the recent General Elections in Laois. The Ballinakill resident ran unsuccessfully in the local elections as a candidate in the Portlaoise area.