Election 2024Constituency Profile

Kildare North constituency profile: Transfers between Coalition parties could see one of them return second TD

Impending retirement of Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy sees a gap open up in the constituency

Kildare North Constituency map
Election 2024: Kildare North is commuter belt territory, and housing is issue number one across the constituency
Cormac McQuinn's picture
Cormac McQuinn
Thu Nov 07 2024 - 12:19

Outgoing TDs: Catherine Murphy (SD – retiring), James Lawless (FF), Bernard Durkan (FG), Réada Cronin (SF)

Who are the Kildare North constituency candidates?: James Lawless (FF), Bernard Durkan (FG), Réada Cronin (SF), Caroline Hogan (SF), Senator Vincent P Martin (GP), Cllr Joe Neville (FG), Cllr Evie Sammon (FG), Cllr Naoise Ó Cearúil (FF), Cllr Aidan Farrelly (SD), Cllr Bill Clear (Ind), Cllr Angela Feeney (Lab), Una O’Connor (Aon), Leah Whelan (PBP-Sol), Avril Corcoran (TIP/NA), Gerry Waters (IFP), Seán Gill (Ind)

The impending retirement of Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy – the poll topper in 2020 – sees a gap open up in a constituency that was already going to be all to play for, with an extra seat in the mix this time around due to last year’s boundary review.

The Social Democrats are running Cllr Aidan Farrelly in a bid to retain Murphy’s seat but it has something of a headache with Bill Clear, until recently one of the party’s councillors, entering the race as an Independent. “Far from ideal” is how one Social Democrats source described the situation.

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Meanwhile, veteran Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan – who was first elected to the Dáil in 1981 – is running again. His job will not be made easier with not one but two running mates – councillors Joe Neville and Evie Sammon – but Fine Gael could potentially nab two seats. Fianna Fáil might be the spoiler in that aim, though Fine Gael’s current poll standings could give it the edge.

Recently appointed junior minster for transport James Lawless is joined on Fianna Fáil’s ticket by councillor Naoise Ó Cearúil who put in a strong showing at the local elections with almost 1,900 votes. Fianna Fáil could feasibly be in the hunt for two seats as well. Transfers between the two current Coalition parties could see one of them return a second TD.

Outgoing Sinn Féin TD Réada Cronin is seeking to retain her seat in Kildare North. The party had a poor local election in Kildare securing just one council seat across the whole county. Sinn Féin has announced that Cronin’s office manager Caroline Hogan will join her on the ticket on the day the election was called. It had been unusual for a large party like Sinn Féin not to be running two candidates in a five-seater like Kildare North. Cronin said of the announcement that “Caroline being added to the ticket here shows just how serious we are about creating a Sinn Féin led government.”

The addition of a running mate may not necessarily help Cronin in her bid to retain her Dáil seat and vote management will be key if she is to succeed. Had she remained the only Sinn Féin candidate it would likely have seen her get over the line more easily. Senator Vincent P Martin, the brother of Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin, is the Green Party candidate. He got 5,100 first-preference votes in 2020, not far behind Durkan’s 5,447 and is having another crack at it. He could well be battling it out with Farrelly, Clear and Labour’s Angela Feeney for the left-wing seat vacated by Murphy.

Kildare North is prime commuter belt territory and includes the major towns of Naas and Maynooth. Housing – and its affordability – is issue number one across the constituency. The plan to extend the Dart rail line to Maynooth is important to many people there. The expansion of Kildare North to five seats has the potential to make it a bellwether constituency in this election.

Possible outcome: Fine Gael (2), Fianna Fáil (1), Sinn Féin (1) (Battle for the other seat between the Social Democrats, Green Party, Labour and Independent)