General Election 2024: Offaly stands alone for first time

Constituency Profile: Offaly

ELEVEN candidates have declared their intention to run for the Dail in the three-seat Offaly constituency in the general election of Friday, November 29.

For the first time in the history of the State, the entire county of Offaly is a stand-alone constituency after decades of being tied with southern neighbour Laois.

The election will also be notable as the first since 1965 where the ballot paper will not have a candidate with the name Cowen.

Ber Cowen, Clara, started the family's Dail dynasty in 1969 and his son Brian Cowen continued it on the sudden death of his father in 1984 and went on to become Taoiseach.

Barry Cowen maintained the tradition after his older brother’s retirement in 2011 but is not defending the seat after his election to the European Parliament this summer.

Traditionally Offaly was part of a five-seat Laois-Offaly constituency but in 2016 the counties were split and Offaly, with the addition of part of north Tipperary, became a three-seater.

That poll saw the election of Carol Nolan, the Cadamstown-based primary school teacher and she was re-elected in Laois-Offaly in 2020 as a non-party candidate, having stood for Sinn Fein in 2016.

Deputy Nolan, who opted not to join the new Independent Ireland party, is the only sitting TD in Offaly now seeking re-election.

The departure of Barry Cowen to Europe left Fianna Fail seeking a new candidate and its first choice at a selection convention was the councillor from Tullamore town, Tony McCormack, who runs a printing business.

The party’s national constituency committee then added a second candidate, Edenderry woman Claire Murray, a nurse in a GP surgery in the village of Rhode, who won a seat on Offaly County Council in June in what was her debut election.

Her addition to the ticket resulted in another Fianna Fail hopeful, Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick, a farmer from Cloneyhurke, deciding to leave the party and run as an independent for what will be his third attempt to win a Dail seat. He was a Progressive Democrat before joining Fianna Fail and says he was overlooked after finishing second at the recent FF selection convention.

The sole Fine Gael candidate is John Clendennen, a councillor, publican and tourist accommodation provider from Kinnitty.

Son of the well known former councillor Percy Clendennen, this is Cllr Clendennen's first time to run for the Dail as he hopes to regain the Fine Gael seat formerly held by Marcella Corcoran Kennedy. Ms Corcoran Kennedy lost out in the 2020 election after nine years in the Dail.

Pippa Hackett, Green Party senator and ‘super junior’ minister of state at the Department of Agriculture, will be a Dail candidate for the second time after coming sixth in the Laois-Offaly five-seater in 2020.

A native of Co Mayo who unsuccessfully sought the leadership of her party after the resignation of Eamon Ryan, she runs an organic farm between Geashill and Cloneygowan with her husband Mark, who lost the seat on Offaly County Council which had been won by his wife for the first time in 2019.

Sinn Fein’s candidate is Aoife Masterson, a new Dail candidate who was elected to Offaly County Council at the first attempt in June.

A Tullamore woman, she is a former lecturer who studied law and is now an employee of the Sinn Fein party.

A veteran public representative from Edenderry, Fergus McDonnell, will seek a seat for Independent Ireland. A councillor, former Bord na Mona employee and community worker who has previously been a member of Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats, he was returned to the council after a 10-year gap this summer.

Maureen Ward will represent Aontú, the party founded by former Sinn Fein TD from Meath Peadar Tóibín. Based in Tullamore, Ms Ward currently serves as the interim coordinator of Minceirs Whiden ('Travellers Talking'), a national organisation promoting Traveller voices and community dialogue.

Keishia Taylor is running for People Before Profit - Solidarity. A first time candidate in Offaly, the Dublin-based woman is an activist with the Socialist Party and ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement and works in education. She became politically active in 2016, joining ROSA to campaign for abortion.

The final Independent candidate is Mike Boylan, Banagher, who also contested the County Council elections in June.

Deputy Nolan and Cllrs McCormack and Clendennen are seen as the front runners for the three seats.

CANDIDATES

Mike Boylan Independent

John Clendennen Fine Gael

Eddie Fitzpatrick Independent

Pippa Hackett Green Party

Carol Nolan Independent

Tony McCormack Fianna Fail

Fergus McDonnell Independent Ireland

Aoife Masterson Sinn Fein

Claire Murray Fianna Fail

Keishia Taylor People Before Profit

Maureen Ward Aontú