Former People Before Profit Gino Kenny TD has made a political comeback.
The former TD, who was a TD for Dublin Mid-West between 2016 and 2024, will be co-opted onto South Dublin County Council.
It is expected that Kenny will take his seat on South Dublin County Council in April.
Kenny is taking the place of councillor Darragh Adelaide, who was elected in the Clondalkin constituency in 2024, with the party stating that Adelaide is resigning for “personal reasons.”
In a statement, the party said that Adelaide had been an “exemplary councillor” since his election in 2024.
“He has represented and fought for his constituents and for working-class people across South Dublin, and also played a central role in standing up to racism and the far-right and building a vibrant antiracist movement in Dublin and beyond,” the party said.
Kenny said, “I want to commend Darragh for his dynamic activism and winning a seat at the 2024 local elections.”
He said it was “disappointing” that Adelaide is stepping down, but said he and the party “fully respect his decision.”
During Adelaide’s time on the council, he was a vocal critic of big landlords, with South Dublin County Council passing a motion in November 2025 calling for illegal AirBNBs to be banned in the local area.
Kenny admitted that returning to local politics “his certainly wasn’t in the plans” but said it would be a “privilege” to serve as a councillor in Clondalkin again.
Kenny’s first taste of electoral success came in 2009 when he was elected onto South Dublin County Council amid a surge for left-wing candidates in the wake of the economic crash.
Kenny was elected to his council seat on the first count in the 2014 local elections, alongside future Dublin Mid-West stablemates Eoin Ó Broin and Emer Higgins.
Both Ó Broin and Kenny were elected in the 2016 general election, and the addition of Mark Ward to the Sinn Féin ticket in the 2020 general election showed that Dublin Mid-West was one of the most left-leaning constituencies in the country, with three of the four seats going to Sinn Féin and People Before Profit.
Kenny’s performance in the 2020 general election has gone down in modern Irish political history, with Kenny himself admitting he thought he was “political toast” after the first count, only for 8 consecutive rounds of transfers seeing him win the final seat.
Kenny’s luck ran out in the 2024 general election; despite Dublin Mid-West being expanded to five seats, boundary revisions, being outpolled by Social Democrats candidate Eoin Ó Broin and the comeback of Paul Gogarty all combined to cost Kenny his seat in the 2024 general election.
Over a year later, Kenny has found himself back in electoral politics.
“We know he will work to represent the people of Clondalkin and will work with our other councillors to ensure that there is a voice for radical change on the council; he will be taking up the position in April at the monthly Council meeting,” the party confirmed.