Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan has been selected by his party as a general election candidate for the Dublin Bay South constituency.
A one-time heartland for Fine Gael support, the party has been without a sitting TD in the constituency since former minister Eoghan Murphy resigned as a TD in 2021.
Ivana Bacik, now the Labour Party’s leader, won the seat he previously held in the subsequent byelection that summer.
Mr Geoghegan, a councillor in the Pembroke local electoral area, came second in that contest.
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Party leader, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, said at the time that Mr Geoghegan held the Fine Gael vote in the constituency and is “very well placed to gain a seat in the next general election”.
The Dublin Bay South selection convention on Monday night, chaired by Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris, was the first such event held by Fine Gael for the next general election.
The election must take place by March next year, though there has been much speculation it will be sooner.
The convention saw four councillors compete to get the chance to run in the general election for the party in the usually hotly contested constituency.
Emma Blain, a Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown councillor, Fingal councillor Punam Rane and Dublin city councillor Danny Byrne who is based in the southeast Inner City were the unsuccessful candidates.
Ms Blain, who currently represents Sandyford-Glencullen, is originally from Rathmines and she is hoping to switch Council in the upcoming local elections in June.
She is running in as a candidate in the Pembroke local electoral area of Dublin city Council and she told The Irish Times “my heart lies in Dublin Bay South”.
Ms Rane, currently representing Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, has been living in Dublin Bay South since 2021 and said before the selection convention: “I would like to continue my political career representing Fine Gael in the area that I live in.”
While Mr Geoghegan was the only Dáil hopeful selected on Monday night, the party may run more than one candidate in the constituency and could add to the ticket in Dublin Bay South at a later date.
Fine Gael had two TDs in Dublin Bay South between 2016 and 2020, Eoghan Murphy and Kate O’Connell.
Ms O’Connell lost her seat in the last general election.
She did not put her name forward for the byelection nor was she a candidate for selection on Monday night.
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