Fine Gael select 21-year-old candidate as Swords election candidate

Fine Gael has selected 21-year-old Luke Corkery to contest next year’s local elections in the Swords electoral area.

Corkery will be looking for a seat in a constituency that includes the town of Swords as well as parts of Santry, Kilsallaghan and Dublin Airport.

Corkery looks to win a seat on Fingal County Council in the seven-seat Swords electoral area in next year’s local elections, which are scheduled to place in June 2024.

The candidate was selected at party’s selection convention was held in Applewood Community Centre on Tuesday night, with Ministers Simon Harris and Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill as well as local representatives Alan Farrell TD and Senator Regina Doherty in attendance.

A DCU graduate, Corkery says he has experience in politics, having worked in Leinster House and having been involved in local campaigns and student activism since his school days.

“I’ve never been more optimistic for my hometown and its future. If elected next June, I promise to bring new energy to the Council Chamber to stand up for the things that really matter to people right across what is one of Ireland’s fastest-growing towns.”

“I’m a commuter, dependent on unreliable bus services to get me to and from work each day amid traffic chaos. I understand the frustrations of so many others like me. We need to fast-track frequent, reliable public transport that people can depend on.”

With the housing crisis a major issue among young voters, Corkery said the issue was a priority for him, saying “I’m a young person for whom the prospect of renting, yet alone buying a home locally, seems practically out of reach. We need more homes here in Swords, particularly the large-scale development of affordable housing like we have seen elsewhere in Fingal.

“Anti-social behaviour, from break-ins to vandalism, has become all too common, and people want to see more Garda patrols out on the beat in their communities. We can build stronger, safer communities through investment in local infrastructure and a focus on community, and neighbourhood policing.”

Corkery said “I’m looking forward to taking my message to people across this huge town; the town I’ve grown up in and lived in my entire life. I’m ready to double down, and I’m only getting started.”

Young people running for elected office in Ireland has been a regular feature of election season, with Ben Dalton O’Sullivan elected as an independent to Cork County Council at the tender age of 19 back in 2019.

Simon Harris, who chaired the convention, said “Luke is a great new candidate; we need young people and energy in politics. We’re going to work to deliver a third-level campus for Swords. It’s not right that we don’t have a third-level presence in such a large area like this one. I hope everyone gets behind Luke and his campaign.”

In recent weeks, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he has been speaking to prospective candidates across the country as Fine Gael look to win back the position of the biggest party at a local level in Ireland.

“I had the chance in the last couple of weeks to sit down with some people whom I’m keen to have run in elections — they are my age and younger and you know, some are women, they do express concerns about safety or the impact on the family life, or abuse on social media,” he told the Irish Examiner in August.

“All those things are real, what I would always say back to them is the positive sides of politics, the opportunities are very real too, they are very great — the chance to represent your community, the chance to represent your country, the chance to move away from giving out about things that frustrate you to actually being able to change them — that can be very rewarding as well.”