Kerry constituency profile: You can be guaranteed the Healy-Raes ...
Outgoing TDs: Michael Healy-Rae (Ind); Danny Healy-Rae (Ind); Pa Daly (SF); Norma Foley (FF); Brendan Griffin (FG).
Who are the candidates running in the Kerry constituency? Deputy Pa Daly (SF), Deputy Michael Healy-Rae (Ind), Deputy Norma Foley (FF), Deputy Danny Healy-Rae (Ind); Mary Fitzgibbon (Ind); Cllr Michael Cahill (FF), Cleo Murphy (GP), Linda Gordon-Kelleher (FF), Billy O’Shea (FG), Michelle Keane (Ind), Catherina O’Sullivan (Aon), Mary Fitzgibbon (Ind), Thomas McEllistrim (Ind), Cian Prendiville (PBP), Cleo Murphy (GP), Brandon Begley (IFP), Mike Kennedy (Lab)
No constituency is ever writ but it’s hard to see any of the four incumbents being replaced.
The Healy-Rae organisation in Kerry is at least as powerful as that of any of the parties, with three members of the third generation of the family topping their respective polls in the local elections. Meanwhile, both brothers have signalled they will stay on as TDs for another term. Their vote might not reach the stratospheric heights of 2020 and 2016 but you can guarantee they will be easily elected.
As will Fianna Fáil’s lead candidate, Norma Foley.
The Sinn Féin brand may have lost some of its lustre over the past year but since Martin Ferris established a bridgehead here, the party has a solid voter base, particularly in the north and northwest of the county. Its justice spokesman, Pa Daly, is well known and is liked by opponents. On the face of it, the big question is who will get Brendan Griffin’s seat?
Fine Gael has only one candidate, former county footballer Billy O’Shea. Fine Gael has always had a quota here too so O’Shea should have no trouble retaining the seat for his party. Unlike Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil is running three candidates. Along with Foley, there is south Kerry councillor Michael Cahill and Linda Gordon-Kelleher, a Killarney-based solicitor who has been a director of elections for the party in the constituency.
Kerry remains a five-seater that respects the county boundary, one of very few constituencies in the happy position to do this. The big issues in the county revolve around transport, tourism, health and housing. Some of its towns have struggled because of changing patterns of retail. Fuel prices, the cost of living and public transport have also cropped up as issues.
Possible outcome: Independent (2), Fianna Fáil (1), Sinn Féin (1), Fine Gael (1)
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