Candidates clamour for the people’s vote
WITH W the starting gun fired on the General Election, 10 candidates have so far declared in Kerry.
Across the five seat constituency, several other potential candidates were wweighing up their options on Tuesday night.
Labour HQ are courting party veteran Terry O’Brien with the Tralee Cllr expected to make his intentions known in the coming days.
To the south, Fianna Fáil Cllr Michael Cahill and Kerry Independent Alliance Cllr Michael Gleeson are mulling their own bids.
Meanwhile, the HealyRae organisation has ruled out a third candidate.
WHILE the race for the Dáil has only just begun the campaign has been well underway for days if not weeks.
The election campaign is set to be short and fierce, with a three-week campaign, concluding with an unusual Saturday vote on February 8.
In Kerry, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Healy-Rae organisation and the Greens were all canvassing over the holiday period and kicked the campaigns in to high gear last week.
Ahead of Leo Varadkar’s trip to Phoenix Park on Fine Gael members in Kerry were already due to meet and discuss the election campaign on Tuesday.
Meanwhile orders for some 12,000 Fine Gael posters were also being made locally.
The Green Party in Kerry has also indicated its determination to capitalise on the ‘Green Wave’ seen at last year’s Local Elections.
Kenmare-based Kerry Green candidate Cleo Murphy has been canvassing across the county, knocking on doors in Killarney last week before making a trip to canvas Tralee voters on Saturday.
The Greens are also due to host a Kerry campaign fundraising dinner at the Dromhall Hotel in Killarney on Friday, January 24.
Canvassing teams representing Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Healy-Raes have been pounding pavements for weeks now, but they too had all stepped up their activity in recent days.
The party at the greatest disadvantage as the campaign kicked off was the Labour Party, which (as of Tuesday) had yet to pick a candidate in Kerry.
Party members met on Tuesday and its was expected a candidate – most likely Tralee Cllr Terry O’Brien – would be named on Wednesday.
Without a name to give voters party, activists across the county found themselves hamstrung in the early days of the unofficial contest. When it comes to postering it also means Labour could lose out on the county’s prime real estate.
As it stands – with a week before nominations close – there are 10 declared candidates for Kerry’s five seats.
There are three from Fianna Fáil; two for Fine Gael and one each for Sinn Féin, The Green Party and Peadar Tóibín’s recently launched Aontú party.
The independent ranks are – so far – filled by Michael and Danny Healy-Rae, who will be hoping they can repeat their all-conquering 2016 performance, which saw them pull in an astonishing 30,000 votes between them, hoovering up 38 per cent of the total vote across the county.
Based on the last General Election, it would be expected that around 15 candidates will probably be on the ballot paper come polling day.
That would include at least one Labour candidate and a number of other independents and candidates from the smaller parties.
Under election rules all candidates intending to seek a Dáil seat must submit their nomination papers by 12 noon on the seventh day after the Dáil is dissolved and the General Election Writ is issued by the houses of the Oireachtas.
With the Dáil dissolved and the election called yesterday that deadline for nominations now falls next Tuesday, January 21.
Outside of the political parties there are many others facing into a frenetic few days and weeks. Staff from the County Registrars Office and Kerry County Council will be kept busy in the coming days organising and arranging the ballot and the count.
Though details have not been confirmed it is expected that the Kerry count – as was the case in 2016 – will take place at the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre.
The snap election means Kerry County Council are also likely to be inundated with requests from voters seeking to have their names added to the supplemental register.