Ellis drafts in running mate in Dublin North-West

Sinn Féin has announced that TD Dessie Ellis will be joined on the ballot in the upcoming general election by former councillor Cathleen Carney Boud.

Ellis notably topped the poll in the constituency in the 2020 general election with 44.4% of first preferences, but was the only Sinn Féin candidate on the ballot on that occasion.

The party bringing in a running mate for Ellis implies they want to get more bang for their buck and possibly win a second seat in the three-seater.

Boud was elected to Dublin City Council in 2014, but lost her seat in 2019 amid widespread infighting among the Sinn Féin branch in the area.

Boud said running in the general election was a “big decision for me personally but I feel I need to get back to fighting for housing and mental health services and helping the people of Ballymun and beyond.”

“I have worked hard for the people of Ballymun and Dublin North-West areas since 2014 and I’ve missed that a lot recently,” she said.

Sinn Féin went from one councillor to two in Ballymun-Finglas in June’s local elections, one of the few areas in Dublin where they gained seats compared to 2019.

In Ballymun-Finglas, which serves as one of the local electoral areas of Dublin North-West, Anthony Conaghan and Leslie Kane won seats for the party.

The party fared poorly in the neighbouring Artane-Whitehall, the other local electoral area in Dublin North-West, with veteran councillor Larry O’Toole losing his seat and Edel Moran being one of only four successful candidates in the constituency. 

In Ballymun-Finglas, Conaghan finished in second place behind Fianna Fáil’s Keith Connolly, with Kane finishing below Social Democrats councillor Mary Callaghan, People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy (who will also be running in the general election) and anti-immigrant independent councillor Gavin Pepper.

In Artane-Whitehall, Moran was the only successful Sinn Féin candidate with two Social Democrats candidates (Jesslyn Henry and Aisling Silke), Independent Left councillor John Lyons, Fianna Fáil’s Rachel Batten and Fine Gael’s Declan Flanagan all placing above Moran.

Moran required transfers to see off anti-immigrant independent candidate Kevin Coyle in Artane-Whitehall, who received 7.5% of first preferences compared to her 6.5%.

Ellis and Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe will be looking to hold onto their seats, while Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall announced earlier this year that she will not be seeking re-election.

European candidate (and former People Before Profit general election candidate) Rory Hearne will look to hold onto the seat that Shortall first won as a Labour TD back in 1992 and won as a member of the Social Democrats in 2016 and 2020.

Among the other candidates are independent councillor Gavin Pepper, who demonstrated in June that there is an anti-immigrant voter base in Dublin North-West; former Green councillor Caroline Conroy, who lost her seat in June; Aontú’s local election candidate Edward Mac Manus; and National Party local election candidate Stephen Redmond, whose transfers were instrumental in getting Pepper elected onto Dublin City Council.