COUNTY COUNCIL PROFILE: KILDARE:A REDRAWING of constituency boundaries means that there are now five electoral areas in Kildare, with Celbridge and Leixlip having been amalgamated.
The recently-announced decision of Cllr Mary Glennon, a popular Independent, not to contest has local observers speculating as to where her votes will go. Meanwhile, Fine Gael councillor Fionnuala Dukes, wife of former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, is also retiring from the council. While political loyalties die hard at local level, there may be an appetite for candidates who are not allied to a particular party.
In the Athy electoral area, which has four seats, Fianna Fáil is fielding Cllr Mark Dalton, who also sits on Athy Town Council, and Cllr Martin Miley. Fine Gael is running three candidates: Cllr Billy Hillis, Richard Daly, who sits on the town council, and Martin Heydon. The son of Jack Wall TD, Mark Wall, is contesting for Labour and John Lawler, cathaoirleach of the town council, is the Independent candidate.
Celbridge has 12 candidates contesting six seats. Running for Fianna Fáil are Cllr Paul Kelly, who is also a member of Leixlip Town Council, Bríd Feely and Paul Ward.
Fine Gael is putting forward Mayor Senan Griffin, Cllr Katie Ridge and Joe Neville. The Labour Party’s candidates are Cllrs John McGinley and Kevin Byrne, as well as cathaoirleach of Leixlip Town Council Colm Purcell. Shane Fitzgerald, a Leixlip Town Council member, is contesting for the Green Party and the former TD Cllr Catherine Murphy is running as an Independent, as is Ivan Farina.
The Naas electoral area has five seats. The Fianna Fáil candidates are Cllr Willie Callaghan, who also sits on Naas Town Council, James Lawless and Tiernach Cassidy. Going forward on behalf of Fine Gael are town councillor Darren Scully and Anthony Lawlor.
Labour’s candidates here are Deputy Mayor Paddy McNamara and Naas town councillor Pat McCarthy.
The Green Party candidate is Cllr JJ Power, also a town councillor, who is a brother of Seán Power TD, a former minister of state. The Independent candidates in Naas are Naas mayor Séamie Moore, David Monaghan and Donal Corcoran.
The Kildare electoral area sees county and town councillors Pat Black and Fiona O’Loughlin, with Cllr Suzanne Doyle, contesting for Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael is represented here by Cllr Micheál “Spike” Nolan, Mark Stafford and Tony O’Donnell. The Labour Party’s candidates are Cllr Francis Browne and Adrian Kane. John Hardt is running for the Greens.
Sinn Féin’s only representative running for the county council is Seán Downey. The Independents are Murty Aspell and Paddy Kennedy, both of whom sit on the town council, and John Tierney.
Finally, in Clane, with four seats, Fianna Fáil’s candidates are Cllr Daragh Fitzpatrick, son of Michael Fitzpatrick TD, Cllr Liam Doyle and PJ Sheridan. Fine Gael is offering Cllr Brendan Weld and Séamus Langan. The Labour Party is represented by Chris Rowland and Rose Devine.
Clane’s crop of Independents are Pádraig McEvoy, who is standing down, Jim Reilly, Leo Armstrong and David Flanagan.
