TDs all set for Fingal East scrap

Dublin Fingal TDs are gearing up for election season in brand-new constituencies.

In the past week, Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell and Labour TD Duncan Smith have launched their re-election bids.

Dublin Fingal East and West, which we described as “Frankenstein constituencies” following the constituency boundary redraws last August, will see what used to be Dublin Fingal and its five seats split into two new three-seater constituencies.

O’Brien has served as TD for Dublin Fingal since 2016, and served as TD for the precursor constituency of Dublin North between 2007 and 2011.

Farrell represented Howth and Malahide as a member of Fingal County Council prior to his election to the Dáil in 2011, and securing re-election in 2016 and 2020.

Smith represented Swords when he was a member of Fingal County Council, winning elections in 2014 and 2019 before his elevation to the Dáil in 2020.

Dublin Fingal East contains the major population centres of Farrell and O’Brien’s stronghold of Malahide, Smith’s stronghold of Swords, Portmarnock, Donabate and Portrane.

Farrell’s old constituency of Howth-Malahide saw Fine Gael fall short of getting two candidates elected with Aoibhinn Tormey getting the nod from voters over Anthony Lavin.

Fianna Fáil saw more success in Howth-Malahide, with O’Brien’s brother Eoghan winning re-election and Cathal Haughey winning a seat in the same constituency.

Fine Gael were more successful in getting their candidates over the line in Swords and Rush-Lusk, getting first-time candidates Luke Corkery and Eoghan Dockrellelected.

June’s local elections saw Labour become the joint-biggest party on Fingal  County Councill and in the context of Smith’s re-election bid, this manifested itself with victores in Swords, Howth-Malahide and two wins in Rush-Lusk.

Rush-Lusk represented Labour’s best performance nationwide in June, with their two councillors Robert O’Donoghue and Corina Johnston pulling in just shy of 40% of first preferences between them

Crucially for Smith, Donabate and Portane, which are parts of Rush-Lusk at a local level, fall into Dublin Fingal East

2020’s poll-topper Louise O’Reilly is yet to declare which of the two Dublin Fingal constituencies she will be running in, but 2020’s runner-up Joe O’Brien of the Greens will not be joining his old sparring partners for an election re-match; he will be running in Dublin Fingal West. 

Dean Mulligan of Independents4Change, who was elected on the first count in Swords with exactly 15% and exactly 2,000 first preference votes is likely to run in the general election, repeating his 2019 by-election and 2020 general election bids.

Farrell said, “I am very pleased to have been selected by members of the newly formed Dublin Fingal East constituency to contest the next general election; having fought and won five elections over the past twenty years, I am very much looking forward to this campaign with fresh vigour.” 

“Dublin Fingal East is one of the youngest, fastest-growing constituencies in Ireland and I am very eager to continue to represent the vast and varying needs of my constituents,” he said.

Discussing his re-election bid, Farrell said “I will focus on delivering on transport projects such as DART+, Bus Connects and MetroLink, ensuring that improvements to healthcare facilities in Swords are completed.”

  Smith said he was looking to build a “grassroots” campaign for his re-election bid.

“I’ll be standing on my record of open, fair and honest politics while working with communities and people on real solutions to real problems,” he said.

In his announcement video, he said that improving public transport, housing, healthcare and the environment were among his campaign goals.

O’Brien said he was “delighted” to be nominated and selected by local Fianna Fáil branch members to run in the upcoming general election.

“A big thank you to all the members who came out in force and who continue to support me locally, it’s very much appreciated,” he said.