We’ll soon see General Election posters popping up across Carlow and Kilkenny following confirmation of polling day.
Government leaders last evening said the 33rd Dáil will be dissolved tomorrow (Friday) with it’s last sitting today.
Then we cast our votes on Friday, 29th November to find out who we’ll be represented by for the next five years.
So far, 18 people have been declared or selected by their respective parties for the Carlow Kilkenny constituency with more in Tipperary North which now includes 4,000 north west Kilkenny voters.
Sitting Minister of State and local Green TD Malcolm Noonan as well as Fianna Fáil Deputies John McGuinness & Jennifer Murnane O’Connor are all seeking a return with Graignamanagh based Councillor Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere running too.
Outgoing Fine Gael and Sinn Féin representatives, John Paul Phelan and Kathleen Funchion, are hoping their respective parties will retain the seats they’ve held – Kilkenny councillors Michael Doyle & David Fitzgerald with Carlow’s Catherine Callaghan, who famously lost out in the Local Elections by a single vote, are seeking those for FG while Natasha Newsome Drennan and Áine Gladney Knox hoping to build on their Local Elections experience for SF.
Carlow People Before Profit Councillor Adrienne Wallace is looking to move up, Kilkenny city Councillor Seán Ó hArgáin is running for Labour, Ferrybank native Gary O’Neill’s in the mix for Aontú, with Social Democrats’ Patricia Stephenson and Orla Donohoe of the Irish Freedom Party also bidding for a place at the national table.
Independents are in the form of Kilkenny city Councillor Eugene McGuinness, Tom Healy, Luke O’Connor and Michael McGrath.
All of the Carlow based contenders are female while the big battle’s expected to be for somebody to represent South Kilkenny.
