Who are the Kerry 2020 candidates?
John Bowler Irish Freedom
ORIGINALLY from the United States, Mr Bowler has been living in Camp for several years.
A US Navy veteran and a former publican, Mr Bowler is Membership coordinator of the Irish Freedom Party.
Mr Bowler was involved in local politics in the US, serving two terms on the City Council of Hermosa Beach in California, where he was also Mayor twice.
John Brassil Fianna Fáil
BALLYHEIGUE native John Brassil has been a Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry since 2016. He previously sat on Kerry County Council. First elected to the council in 1999, he retained his seat at every subsequent election. A pharmacist by trade, Deputy Brassil is Fianna Fáil’s Dáil spokesperson on primary care and community health services.
Norma Foley Fianna Fáil
A FORMER Mayor of Kerry and three-time mayor of Tralee, Cllr Foley is a veteran councillor.
First elected to Tralee Town Council in 1994, she took a seat on Kerry County Council in 2004. At the 2007 General Election, she was unsuccessful but won almost 5,000 first-preference votes for Fianna Fáil. She topped the Tralee poll at the 2019 local elections.
Ted Cronin (Ind)
A native of Rathmore and a long-time resident of Tralee, Ted Cronin is an Independent candidate who is representing the newly formed Animal Welfare Party, of which he is the Deputy Leader.
Mr Cronin ran in the Tralee area at last May’s Local Elections. Though a relatively late entrant to the race, he accrued a creditable 225 votes.
Sonny Foran Aontú
SONNY Foran entered politics in 2019 as an Aontú candidate for Kerry County Council in the Listowel area.
The father-of-four works as a Health Care Assistant at the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee having previously worked as a building contractor and publican. Though eliminated early, he finished with a sizeable 870 votes.
Mike Kennelly Fine Gael
LISTOWEL native Cllr Kennelly has been involved in politics since 2009, first sitting on Listowel Town Council. He was subsequently elected to Kerry County Council in 2014.
A brother of the late Kerry GAA legend Tim Kennelly, he is also heavily involved in the north Kerry GAA. He was re-elected at the first count at the 2019 Local Elections.
Pa Daly Sinn Féin
A COUNCILLOR since 2012, Cllr Daly was first co-opted into Toiréasa Ferris’s Tralee Town Council seat.
He was elected in his own right at the 2014 Local Elections with a 2,122-vote haul seeing him easily take a seat in Kerry County Council’s Tralee Municipal District at the first count.
Cllr Daly was re-elected to the council last May.
Brendan Griffin Fine Gael
THE Junior Minister for Sport and Tourism has been a Fine Gael TD for Kerry since 2011, when he topped the poll in Kerry South. He had previously represented the Dingle area on Kerry County Council.
He won the largest vote of any Fine Gael candidate in Munster at the 2016 General Election and was named a Minister by Leo Varadkar in 2017.
Norma Moriarty Fianna Fáil
WATERVILLE-BASED councillor Norma Moriarty was first elected to Kerry County Council in 2014 and contested the 2016 General Election for Fianna Fáil, attracting almost 4,400 first-preference votes.
At the 2019 local elections, she easily retained her council seat, with an increase of around 500 votes seeing her re-elected at the first count.
Danny Healy-Rae (Ind)
A TD since 2016, Danny Healy -Rae previously sat on Kerry County Council from 2003 to 2016.
The 65-year-old son of Jackie Healy-Rae is a publican and runs a successful plant-hire company. Though a last-minute entrant to the 2016 race, HealyRae secured almost 10,000 votes, enough to see him easily take Kerry’s second seat
Cleo Murphy Green Party
THE Kenmare woman entered politics in 2019, when she ran for election to Kerry County Council. Though her bid was unsuccessful, she finished with a considerable 892 votes.
A former journalist, Ms Murphy is now a family carer who is actively involved in community affairs. She has previously served on the National Executive of the Green Party.
Michael Healy-Rae (Ind)
THE youngest son of Jackie Healy-Rae first entered active politics when he was elected to Kerry County Council in 1999.
He was elected to the Dáil in 2011 after his father retired from politics.
At the 2016 General Election, he topped the poll in Kerry with a massive 20,378 votes, the highest vote won by any candidate in the country.
Sean O’Leary (Ind)
MR O’Leary is an engineer who is from Kerry Pike in County Cork. He is standing as an Independent Candidate in Kerry and in all five of county Cork’s Dáil constituencies and five Dublin constituencies. He previously put himself forward for the Cork North Central by-election in November 2019 but withdrew from the race before the election.