The election has been called, the posters are up and we’ll have an intense campaign between now and polling day on November 29.
In the last week alone in Laois, there have been three new confirmed candidates, bringing to 10 the number of names that will be on your ballot sheet.
Now a three-seater after splitting once again from Offaly, it’s a constituency that is all-Laois with the Portarlington-Killenard-Ballybrittas area now back having been in Kildare South in 2020.
The ten candidates confirmed in Laois so far is up on eight from 2020 while there were only six in 2016 when Laois was last a three-seater. There is an even split of five male and female candidates, with the five females a record high. Laois have never elected a female TD.
As it stands there are three Independent candidates, two from Fianna Fáil and one each from Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, the Greens, Aontu and People Before Profit.
Currently there are no candidates from the Social Democrats or Labour, nor any from any of the far right parties.
Candidates have up until next Saturday, November 16, to register.
Below we list out the 10 candidates in Laois, in alphabetical order, as they will appear on your ballot paper.
Willie Aird – Fine Gael
A dairy farmer in Portlaoise, Willie Aird is a veteran elected representative of 45 years, having been first elected to the old Portlaoise Town Commission in 1979 and then to the Council itself in 1985. This is his first attempt on a national level.
Charlie Flanagan’s retirement, after a Dáil career that spanned 37 years, opened the door for a new candidate to emerge and Aird saw off the challenge of council colleague Conor Bergin to be the Fine Gael name on that ticket. There had been suggestions in the wake of the Brian Stanley fallout that Fine Gael would add a second candidate but that is now unlikely to be the case.
With the exception of the 2002-2007 period (when Tom Parlon of the PDs unseated Charlie Flanagan), there has been a Laois Fine Gael (or Cumann na Gael) representative elected every time since 1927.
Aird’s grandfather, William, was elected to the Dáil in 1927 though died when a TD in 1931.
Mary Hand – Aontú
Mary Hand from Graiguecullen will be the first candidate for the Aontú party in Laois in a General Election.
Martha Byrne from Portlaoise was initially chosen to run but withdrew paving the way for Hand, a teacher in Heywood, to be put on the ticket instead.
“Mary has been politically active locally for a number of years and helped establish the first Access Programme for students from disadvantaged areas, a model now replicated nationally,” said a statement from Aontú when announcing her as their candidate.
Co-founder of the Barrowvale Residents’ Association “she garnered a reputation for “diligent and steadfast advocacy for her fellow residents”.
Aontú were founded by former Sinn Féin TD Peadar Toibin after he left the party at the time of the Abortion referendum. Toibin remains their only TD though they did have eight councillors elected in the Local Elections and were the only party to call for a ‘No, No’ vote in the Referendums earlier this year.
Sean Fleming – Fianna Fáil
Sean Fleming is now the longest-standing politician on the ballot paper. First elected in 1997, he has held his seat in each of the subsequent elections – 2002, 2007, 2016 (when he topped the poll for the first time) and 2020.
This will be his seventh election to contest and if the next Dáil runs its full term, he’ll be on course to serve 29 years in Leinster House.
His predecessors Paddy Lalor did 20 years (1961-1981), Liam Hyland did 16 (1981-1997) and John Moloney did 14 (1997-2011).
A native of The Swan, he has been living in Castletown for a long number of years. He has been a Minister of State since 2020 – first in Finance, where he had responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance – and more recently in Foreign Affairs with responsibility for International Development and Diaspora.
Maria McCormack – Sinn Féin
Maria McCormack – Sinn FéinMaria McCormack, who lives in Portlaoise but is a native of Ballyroan, has been confirmed as Sinn Fein’s candidate, replacing Brian Stanley.
She was the only candidate nominated to last week’s convention in Portlaoise, which was a high-profile, well-attended affair with Mary Lou McDonald among the speakers.
A candidate in the recent Local Elections in Portlaoise, she got just 276 first preference votes though if the 2020 General is anything to go by, there could be considerable growth on that.
Aaron Kelly from Graiguecullen had initially been considered the main contender but a Portlaoise-based female candidate is statement in itself. Sinn Féin will be up against it to hold the seat they have since 2011 but they’re ready for battle and they put on a show of strength at that launch.
“The Sinn Féin seat in Laois belongs to Sinn Féin,” she said at last week’s launch. “It does not belong to anyone in particular. Nor does it belong to any family in particular.
“In this constituency people voted for Sinn Fein in 2011, in 2016 and 2020 because they believe in a better future we can have with a Sinn Fein government.
“I believe they will vote for Sinn Féin and elect the first woman TD for Sinn Féin in Laois. I believe we can do it.”
Ken Mooney – People Before Profit
At just 23, Ken Mooney from Mountrath is so far the youngest candidate in the race having been selected to run for People Before Profit.
A Politics graduate from University of Limerick, it was during his time in Limerick that he decided to join People Before Profit.
“I joined the party when I had just turned 20,” the Mountrath man told LaoisToday. “At the time, I was in college, living down in Limerick in a house, that to be quite honest, you wouldn’t put a dog in.
“It was a devastating situation, and I was paying premium prices – €600 per month – and I saw how there was just a complete lack of housing. We’ve had this housing crisis since I was a child, and I realised the Government can do something about but they aren’t doing anything about it.
“I’ve always been politically aware, but I started seriously looking at getting involved in a party that actually fights for young people, that actually cares about the housing crisis, cares about the cost of living crisis. People Before Profit are the only party that is doing that.”
Aisling Moran – Independent
Aisling Moran from Killeen will run as an Independent – and has also enlisted the support of her Laois County Council colleagues Ben Brennan from Crettyard, James Kelly from Mountrath and Tommy Mulligan from Portlaoise.
The outspoken councillor from the Graiguecullen-Portarlington area said she was encouraged to run by the amount of offers of support she received right across the county.
From the Killeen-Ballylinan area, Moran has been a Laois County Councillor since being elected for the first time in 2019. On that occasion she retained the seat for the Fine Gael party, which had been previously held by her late father John. Indeed John contested the 2011 General Election as Charlie Flanagan’s running mate.
Aisling left Fine Gael in 2023 to become an Independent and was comfortably re-elected in the recent Local Elections.
Elaine Mullally – Independent
Portarlington woman Elaine Mullally, who owns Clown Around play centre in the town, was among the first confirmed candidates in Laois for this General Election and certainly the first of the new faces.
A founding member of Independent Ireland in early 2023, she was an influential figure in their Local and European Election campaigns – but parted ways shortly after.
“In the last four years, I became completely disillusioned with the whole political system and politicians. It was complete frustration. I was writing to TDs and emailing them about different issues and getting no response. It is like for the last couple of years that they (elected TDs) are not listening to the people who voted for them.”
She has set out eight ‘priorities’ on which she will fight her General Election campaign – housing, cost of living, immigration, mental health, small business, farmers, education and crime.
Rosie Palmer – Green Party
From Ballinakill, Palmer was the Green Party’s candidate in the Portlaoise Municipal District in the Local Elections back in June.
But that was a tough day for the Greens and she got just 296 first preference votes and was never in contention. A Parliamentary Assistant with Minister Pippa Hackett, she has fronted up again on this occasion.
“I want the people of Laois to know that I represent the ordinary person – like many I can’t afford to drive an EV or retrofit my home. I’m a single parent with a teenage son and a mortgage to pay; I’m generally content with food in my fridge and a warm place to call home.
“I reflected on what people had to say in June and what I took away is that it is now time to shift the burden from ordinary, working people. I won’t ask the people of Laois to completely move on from their way of life for generations, without ensuring that a feasible alternative is in place, and I commit to delivering more than just a limited range of grants available for the fortunate ones who are financially able to exploit them.”
Brian Stanley – Independent
A Sinn Féin TD since 2011 and a councillor prior to that since 1999, he has had an explosive falling out with the party in recent weeks – resigning in mid-October after he described an internal party inquiry on him as a ‘Kangaroo Court’.
He declared in his resignation statement that he’d be running as an Independent Republican and has since been involved in a non-stop over-and-back war of words with Sinn Fein and Mary Lou McDonald. He has labelled Sinn Féin’s handling of the situation as appalling, McDonald has told him to ‘man up’ and he has since said that SF are ‘all over the shop’.
He got over 16,500 votes in 2020, though around 6,000 of those were in Offaly which is now no longer part of the constituency. To counter that somewhat, he has gained back Portarlington, Killenard and Ballybrittas which were in Kildare South. His core support when in SF would appear to be around 8,000 which he got in 2011 and 2016 – if he gets close to that again, he’ll be home and dry.
Austin Stack – Fianna Fáil
Austin Stack was a somewhat surprise addition to the Fianna Fáil ticket in recent days.
A Portlaoise native, he previously served as Assistant Governor in the Irish Prison Service where he developed a strong reputation as a Health and Safety expert. He has a MSc in Environmental Health and Safety and recently launched a new Health and Safety consultancy business in Portlaoise.
His father, Portlaoise Chief Prison Officer Brian Stack, was shot by the IRA in 1983 and died in hospital in 1984. Austin has campaigned relentlessly over the years since for justice for his murder.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said: “Austin is a very passionate advocate, as shown both by his campaigning for justice for his father, who was tragically murdered by the IRA, and locally, helping people in Portlaoise.”
“I am hugely passionate about advocating for the people of Laois,” said Stack. Over the past decades, I have shown that I am not afraid of being a strong voice for people here and standing up for them.”
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 General Election coverage here
