Election 2024Constituency Profile

Clare constituency profile: Battle between two Fianna Fáil candidates may be about to play out again

Michael McNamara would have been a shoo-in but it looks as though he has decided to remain in Europe

Clare Constituency map
Election 2024: In the Clare constituency Fine Gael strategists believe Leonora Carey can hold her brother Joe Carey’s seat
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Jennifer Bray
Thu Nov 07 2024 - 12:25

Outgoing TDs: Michael McNamara (Ind -now MEP), Joe Carey (FG - resigned for health reasons), Violet-Anne Wynne (was SF now Ind), Cathal Crowe (FF)

Who are the Clare candidates?: Deputy Cathal Crowe (FF), Senator Timmy Dooley (FF), Senator Róisín Garvey (GP), Cllr Rita McInerney (FF), Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF), Eddie Punch (Ind Irel), Matthew Moroney (Ind), Hilary Tonge (SD), Leonora Carey (FG), Cllr Joe Cooney (FG), Tom Nolan (FG), Michael Loughrey (TIP), Violet Anne Wynne (Ind), Caitríona Ní Chatháin (SP), June Dillon (Aon), Micheal Leahy (IFP)

Fine Gael’s Joe Carey announced in August that he intended to step out of politics for health reasons, which paved the way for his sister Leonora Carey to secure the nod from local party members to represent the party in Clare.

As the former chair of the Fine Gael national executive, she said that she was emerging from being behind the scenes to “the frontlines”. She cited her 25 years of experience working in the healthcare sector, working as an occupational therapist manager with the University of Limerick Hospitals Group.

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Fine Gael strategists believe she can hold her brother’s seat, and current polling augurs well. In recent weeks, Fine Gael has also added Killaloe Cllr Joe Cooney and West Clare GP Dr Tom Nolan to the ticket.

Former Sinn Féin TD Violet-Anne Wynne took the first seat here in 2020, and was elected on the 10th count. This was on the back of the 2020 Sinn Féin surge, though, and she has since left, citing “psychological warfare” while she was on maternity leave.

This time, Sinn Féin are running Cllr Donna McGettigan. She was one of six candidates who ran for the party in this summer’s local and European elections, and while she secured one of two Sinn Féin seats, four other candidates lost out.

Elsewhere, there was a scrap here in the last general election between Joe Carey, his colleague Pat Breen and the Green Party’s Róisín Garvey. Carey overtook Garvey after Breen was eliminated. Independent Michael McNamara would have been a shoo-in for a seat, but it looks as though he has decided to remain in Europe. Independent Ireland candidate Eddie Punch will be hoping to sweep up some of those available Independent votes. In 2020, Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley lost out to fellow party member and outgoing TD Cathal Crowe, a battle that may be set to repeat itself. In a county which has previously had traditional Fianna Fáil heartlands, the party will be hoping to nab two seats, but at whose expense?

Possible outcome: Fine Gael (1), Green Party (1), Fianna Fáil (1), Independent (1)