COUNTY COUNCIL PROFILE: LIMERICK:LARGE-SCALE job losses, particularly at US computer giant Dell and German car components manufacturer Kostal, are having a severe impact on areas of Co Limerick, where unemployment is among the key election issues.
The fear that townlands will be divided and communities disjointed as a result of the proposed M20 motorway and the Adare bypass is also coming up on the doorsteps.
In the town of NewcastleWest many people are still waiting on compensation after the worst flooding in living memory caused millions of euro worth of damage to homes and local businesses on August 1st last.
Issues surrounding planning, particularly one-off housing, are also of huge concern for people living in rural parts of Co Limerick, along with disquiet over poor infrastructure and bad roads.
So far 53 people have declared their intention to stand in the five electoral areas that make up Limerick County Council, which has 28 elected representatives.
Practically all five areas have changed following a redrawing of electoral area boundaries, which include the Limerick city suburbs that fall into the county council administrative area.
In the seven-seat areas of Castleconnell and Adare, 12 and 11 candidates respectively will run.
The newly-named Newcastle area and Kilmallock are five-seaters, with 10 and 12 candidates respectively.
Eight election hopefuls will fight it out in Rathkeale, which is reduced from five to four seats.
Only seven of the 53 candidates are female, and not a single woman has yet entered the fray in the Rathkeale area.
Adare, Newcastle and Kilmallock all only have one woman in the field, while Castleconnell has five female candidates, including Labour’s Elena Secas, a former journalist from Moldova now living in Limerick.
Fianna Fáil’s first-time candidate Mary Burke has also made headlines locally after she was added to the party’s ticket in Kilmallock. The special needs assistant is a sister of Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea. Kilmallock has gained an extra seat at the expense of Rathkeale.
The selection of Ms Burke in March followed crisis talks with local cumann members and Fianna Fáil general secretary Sean Dorgan following the party’s initial decision to run just three candidates and not to select anyone from the town of Kimallock.
The newly-drawn Kilmallock area, which now incorporates the townland of Bruff, could prove crucial in determining the size of Fianna Fáil’s presence on Limerick County Council.
Currently the party holds 12 seats but three of its councillors in the Kilmallock area are not seeking re-election, along with Eddie Creighton, formerly of the Progressive Democrats and also representing the Kilmallock area.
The decision by Fine Gael’s Tom Neville, son of Deputy Dan Neville, not to seek re-election in Rathkeale leaves four sitting councillors among the eight candidates battling it out for four seats.
In the newly-drawn, seven-seat Adare electoral area, former PD Rose Brennan is running for Fine Gael, while publican James Collins will run for the first time for Fianna Fáil.
Fianna Fáil is down a sitting councillor in Castleconnell following the decision by Noreen Ryan not to run again, while former PD councillor Brigid Teefy is running as in Independent.
In the five-seat Newcastle area, Labour is hoping to make a gain with Stephen Goulding.
Fine Gael hopes to hold on to its three seats, while Fianna Fáil has two sitting councillors seeking re-election and has also added two newcomers to the ticket.
How the parties stand (Outgoing)
FF 12
FG 13
Lab 1
Others 2
Share of vote 2004
FF 39%
FG 38%
Lab 4%
GP 2%
SF 1%
PD 8%
Others 8%