Northsiders are set for the polls this Friday

ALL eyes will be on north county Dublin this weekend when locals go to the polls to elect a new TD.

The Dublin Fingal constituency will host one of four by-elections taking place nationally to elect new members to the Dail to replace TDs who were elected to the European Parliament in May.

Clare Daly, who was a sitting TD in Dublin Fingal, took one of those seats necessitating a by-election which will take place this Friday, November 29.

Darragh O’Brien (FF), Alan Farrell (FG), Louise O’Reilly (SF) and Brendan Ryan (Lab) are the other four TDs in the five-seat constituency so the big question remains: who will join them in the Dail?

The spotlight was thrust upon the constituency recently when historical tweets from Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee, Fianna Fail’s candidate made national news.   

Ms Clifford-Lee was under fire over the tweets which included derogatory terms that, in particular, enraged the Traveller community.

Her subsequent apologies didn’t go far enough for some, although, importantly, she received the support of Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin. 

There were even calls in some quarters for Senator Clifford-Lee to be deselected by her party but she survived and it will be interesting to see how she performs on polling day.

Another senator, James Reilly, is Fine Gael’s candidate. Reilly is undoubtedly the highest profile candidate in the 12-strong field having been a former TD for the area and of course, he was also a former Minister for Health.

At the Local and European Elections in May, the Green Party was the surprise package and they will be hoping this tidal wave still holds strong and carries its candidate Joe O’Brien all the way to the Dail.

Cllr Duncan Smith and Cllr Ann Graves, who both represent the Swords Local Electoral Area (LEA) on  Fingal County Council, will carry the hopes of Labour and Sinn Fein respectively.

However, it’s likely that a lot of the focus will be on another Swords councillor, Dean Mulligan, who is the Independents 4 Change candidate, Clare Daly’s party.

Daly, who began her career as an anti-water charges campaigner, has been such a major vote-getter in elections over two decades and it will be interesting to see how her large support translates to the young candidate she has endorsed.

Tracey Carey is the Social Democrats’ candidate having joined the party in 2017. Ms Carey already has the experience of contesting the Local Elections in the Swords LEA although it would be a major surprise if she finished ahead of the pack this time round.

Every election field will always comprise a smattering of Independents and single issue candidates and this one will be no different.

Glenn Brady, Peadar O’Kelly, Conor McKay, Gemma Doherty, a former journalist, and Charlie Keddy (an anti-abortion campaigner) make up the rest of the field.