Dublin Bay South byelection set for July 8th

Thursday July 8th has been confirmed as polling day in the byelection to fill the seat vacated by former minister for housing Eoghan Murphy.

Deputy Government whip Brendan Griffin formally moved the writ or legal order in the Dáil to set the date for the poll in Dublin Bay South.

Shortly before 5pm, Minister for Local Government Darragh O’Brien tweeted a photo of himself signing the writ after it was moved in the Dáil at lunchtime. He said on Twitter: “I have just signed the order for the Dublin Bay South Byelection. Polling will take place between the hours of 7am and 10.30pm on Thursday the 8th of July 2021.”

The voting time is an extra 30 minutes longer than the 15 hours usually allocated for polling.

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Canvassing is well under way in the byelection race where 12 candidates have been confirmed to date.

Cllr James Geoghegan is running for Fine Gael, Cllr Deirdre Conroy for Fianna Fáil, Senator Ivana Bacik for Labour and Cllr Claire Byrne for the Green Party.

Senator Lynn Boylan is the Sinn Féin candidate while Sarah Durcan is running for the Social Democrats, Brigid Purcell for People Before Profit/Solidarity and Mairéad Tóibín for Aontú.

Justin Barrett is the National Party candidate, Jacqui Gilbourne is running for Renua, and independents Cllr Mannix Flynn and Peter Dooley are also in the race.

A sitting government rarely holds a seat but Dublin Bay South has been a Fine Gael stronghold.The party’s Cllr Geoghegan and Senator Boylan are the frontrunners in the race. However, Senator Bacik is also viewed as a strong contender.

Housing has been dominating the agenda but concerns about bus and cycle lanes are proving contentious locally along with plans for the long promised metro.

There is no female TD in the constituency which is currently represented by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews and Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan.