The Green Party has put forward Cllr Janet Horner to contest the upcoming Dublin Central byelection, with party leader Roderic O’Gorman insisting “we are in this to win it”.
The Greens lost a seat in the constituency in the general election when the party suffered a near-wipeout after its stint in the last government. O’Gorman was the only Green TD returned to the Dáil in the 2024 election.
A vacancy in Dublin Central arose after Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe resigned his seat in November to take a new job at the World Bank in Washington DC.
Horner has been a member of Dublin City Council (DCC) for more than six years. At the announcement of her candidacy she said: “Dublin Central needs a strong, Green voice”.
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She said this meant “prioritising community, care and culture as we take on the crises of climate change and the chaos of the world around us, focusing on solutions and co-operation over problems and division”.
O’Gorman said the Green Party had “pulled surprises in byelections before”, winning one in 2019. “We’ll be giving this 100 per cent. We’re not flying a flag here. We are in this to win it,” he said.
The party is running former councillor Niall Murphy in the Galway West byelection, a seat left vacant after former independent TD Catherine Connolly was elected President last year.
The Green Party was among left-wing parties that backed Connolly in her bid for Áras an Uachtaráin.
However, left-wing unity is likely to be tested in the upcoming byelections, which are expected to take place in April or May.
Asked if there had been talks between the left-wing parties about transfers between them, O’Gorman said the “number one goal” was getting Horner and Murphy elected.
“We’re open to talking to others”, O’Gorman said, but he added: “Elections aren’t the best for bringing trust, let’s say, among parties.”
On the possibility of a loose “vote left, transfer left” arrangement, O’Gorman said “that’s an option” and there was “scope to talk to others about that”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald is a sitting TD in Dublin Central. It was reported at the weekend that the mother of Harvey Morrison Sherratt, a nine-year-old boy who died after waiting a number of years for spinal surgery, could be selected by Sinn Féin’s candidate there.
Others who may seek to secure the Sinn Féin candidacy at a selection convention are councillors Janice Boylan and Séamus McGrattan.
Horner pushed back against a suggestion that Sinn Féin was best placed to win the Dublin Central seat, saying by-elections “are always unpredictable events” and “I know the platform that I’m standing on is one that I’m confident in”.
Candidates selected by other parties to contest the byelection so far are councillor Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats and folk musician and People Before Profit activist Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin.
Anti-immigration independent councillor Malachy Steenson has also announced his intention to contest the byelection.
Senator Mary Fitzpatrick and councillor John Stephens have both been linked to a possible byelection run for Fianna Fáil. Dublin Lord Mayor Ray McAdam has been tipped as Fine Gael’s possible candidate.
The Irish Times previously reported that gardaí believe veteran criminal figure Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch will run in the Dáil byelection. Hutch missed out on a seat in the constituency in the 2024 general election.
