Why would Sinn Féin add Kilkenny candidate Evan Barry to Tipperary North General Election ticket?
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As part of the re-draw and reinstatement of Tipperary North and Tipperary South constituencies, over 6,400 voters that live in the north western part of County Kilkenny have been added to Tipperary North and it remains to be seen how their vote will go.
Will they feel disenfranchised and stay at home? Well, Sinn Féin have made moves to get some of them to the polling booths.
Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne is running in Tipperary South and in the newly-formed Tipperary North they are going with Local Elections candidate Dan Harty from Holycross.
Harty fell well short of the quota in June and faces an uphill battle in Tipperary North amongst some big heavy-hitters.
So, Sinn Féin have added Kilkenny candidate Evan Barry to their Tipperary North General Election ticket. But why?
Barry, who ran for the party in the Kilkenny City local electoral area in the last Local Elections, was on Thursday night confirmed to run alongside Dan Harty in the controversial new constituency.
One would imagine, Sinn Féin is hoping that Barry will pull in Sinn Féin votes in an area that Harty would not have a high profile.
That might give Harty a fighting chance when Barry's votes are transferred, assuming Barry is eliminated.
It will be interesting to see how this one plays out...is it a clever political chess move by Sinn Féin?
There are now 12 set to contest in Tipperary North.