Stardust survivors’ campaigner Antoinette Keegan plans to run as a National Party candidate in the general election.
Confirming on Monday she would run in the Dublin Fingal East constituency, Ms Keegan said she would be a “voice for the voiceless” in Government as a Stardust campaigner.
Ms Keegan said she was running for the right-wing National Party because she was committed to the party’s “pro-Irish position” in relation to immigration policy, and to increasing in the provision of social and affordable housing and addressing the cost of living crisis.
As the announcement of an election date approaches, Sinn Féin on Monday selected healthcare worker Maria McCormack as its candidate in Laois. She is set to run in the place of Brian Stanley who quit the party last month and pledged to run as an “Independent republican”.
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Mr Stanley fell out with the party leadership over what he called a “seriously flawed” investigation into an incident in which he shared a hotel room with a female party worker. Mr Stanley has denied any wrongdoing and accused his former party leader of treating him “appallingly”.
Speaking to reporters at her party’s selection convention in Portlaoise on Monday evening, Ms McDonald said: “Brian is accountable for his actions. I would think that rather than point the finger at others, Brian should man up and take responsibility for his own behaviour.”
Ms McCormack received a standing ovation from delegates at the selection convention in the Killeshin Hotel. Without mentioning Mr Stanley by name, she said there had been a “tempest of negative media” that the party in Laois had experienced.
“Mary Lou has been in the eye of that storm. Your leadership and determination in the midst of a media onslaught has been remarkable and outstanding,” Ms McCormack said.
Mr Stanley’s wife Caroline Dwane Stanley, who is the party’s only elected representative in Laois, was not present at the selection convention.
Ms McCormack ran unsuccessfully in June’s local elections, winning 276 votes in the seven-seat Portlaoise local electoral area. The party ran three candidates, with only one succeeding in the area: Ms Dwane Stanley.
Meanwhile, long-time Wexford Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Sheehan has left the party to run as an Independent candidate in the general election.
Cllr Sheehan, who is based in the New Ross electoral area, was overlooked as the second candidate on the Fianna Fáil ticket. Instead Minister of State for Justice James Browne will run along with the country’s most decorated woman referee and first time national candidate Michelle O’Neill.
The party announced her selection last Friday. Ms O’Neill, a retired Fifa soccer referee who officiated at major international tournaments, failed to secure election as a councillor last June when she stood as a candidate for Verona Murphy’s Independent Alliance.
Cllr Sheehan, who is a former Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council has been a councillor for 25 years. He ran for the party in the last general election but failed to get elected.
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