Cllr added to FF Cork East general election ticket
THE Fianna Fáil National Constituencies Committee has announced that Cork County Councillor James O’Connor has been added to the party’s ticket to contest the next general election in the Cork East constituency.
He will join sitting TD Kevin O’Keeffe on the ticket as the party seeks to secure two seats in the constituency for the first time since before the 2011 general election.
Traditionally Cork East had returned two TD’s from the constituency prior to 2011. However, a poor showing in that election saw sitting TD Michael Ahern and Kevin O’Keeffe, who had replaced his retiring father Ned on the ticket, lose out in the final shake-up.
Four years later, O’Keeffe managed to retake one of those seats for the Soldiers of Destiny, with Michael Ahern’s daughter Barbara Ahern narrowly missing out on taking a second seat.
The fact that, despite being a relative unknown, Ms Ahern managed to poll almost 4,600 first preference votes, only losing the final seat to Sinn Fein’s Pat Buckley on the tenth count, will have given party insiders hope that a second seat in Cork East is within their grasp.
They believe that Youghal-based Cllr O’Connor will be the man to secure that seat.
Elected to Cork County Council’s Midleton Local Electoral Area (LEA) at the first time of asking earlier this year, Cllr O’Connor grew up on the family dairy farm and is a student of Business, Economics and Social Studies at Trinity College Dublin.
Cllr O’Connor said he felt Fianna Fáil now had an “extremely strong” general election ticket in Cork East and he looked forward to working with Deputy O’Keeffe to return two seats for the party in the constituency.
He said one of his key priorities would be to encourage more younger people to become involved in politics “so they can be fully represented”.
“Access to public transport across Cork County is also a huge issue and since my election to Cork County Council I have been actively engaging with the relevant authorities and stakeholders to improve the situation for commuters. Encouraging more economic activity in the area is also a major priority. I want to work on policies that will support small businesses and increase job opportunities,” he said
“Issues like mental health and wellness are not being properly addressed and I want to work with my party colleagues to move them up the political agenda,” he added.
Describing his new running mate as a “strong addition” to the ticket, Deputy O’Keeffe said he was confident Cllr O’Connor would “help us secure a second seat in Cork East”.