Sinn Féin are set to run a record number of candidates in next summer’s Local Elections in Laois, with a possibility that they could have up to nine names across the three electoral districts.
The party currently have two elected members in Laois County Council – Aidan Mullins in Graiguecullen-Portarlington and Caroline Dwane-Stanley in Portlaoise – but are seeking to make significant gains when the country goes to the polls next June.
A Sinn Fein meeting in relation to their 2024 election team was due to be held this week though there has been no official word on their team just yet.
Graiguecullen’s Aaron Kelly had earlier been confirmed as Aidan Mullins’s running mate in the Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District and the possibility remains open to adding a third, ideally geographically splitting the two as Mullins is based in Portarlington.
An extra candidate had been lined up but ultimately didn’t allow his name to go forward.
They also have two candidates in Portlaoise – the sitting Cllr Dwane-Stanley and Maria McCormack, who lives in Portlaoise but is originally from Ballyroan, which is part of that electoral area.
It’s understood that they are also open to adding a third candidate in that area.
The party currently doesn’t have any elected member in the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick District – but it’s believed they could have three candidates there as they bid to make a breakthrough and unseat one of the sitting councillors.
The Mountmellick-based Lorna Garry, who got almost 650 votes in 2019, is understood to be running again while Helen Campion from Rathdowney and Julie Maguire in Mountrath are also in contention to be on the ticket.
All three are strong community activists and Lorna Garry and Julie Maguire are currently Sinn Fein area representatives, a role assigned by the party.
While Sinn Féin held their two seats in Laois in the 2019 Local Elections, their vote fell substantially across the country – losing 78 seats nationally and going from 159 councillors to 81.
They dramatically reversed that trend eight months later when their Dáil representation went from 22 seats to 37 and they won a higher percentage of the vote than Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for the first time ever.
In 2019, Sinn Féin ran four candidates in Laois – the two that were successful as well as Lorna Garry in Borris-Mountmellick and the Abbeyleix-based John Gormley in Portlaoise.
Lorna Garry polled well with 649 first preference votes but was never realistically challenging for a seat as the ninth-placed candidate where only six were elected. John Gormley got just 131 votes and was eliminated in the fourth count.
The seven confirmed candidates that Sinn Féin are set to run on this occasion compares to four in 2019 and 2014, five in 2009, two in 2004 and one in 1999.
By comparison, Fine Gael have just seven confirmed candidates to run in next year’s elections in Laois. Fianna Fáil at the moment have ten.
Next year’s Local Elections take place in early June.
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 Local Election coverage here
