Carlow-Kilkenny constituency candidates list: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil face scrap to determine who comes out on top

Outgoing TDs: Kathleen Funchion (SF – now MEP), John McGuinness (FF), Jennifer Murnane O’Connor (FF), Malcolm Noonan (GP), John Paul Phelan (FG – retiring from politics)

Who are the candidates running in the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency?

Catherine Callaghan (FG)
Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere (FF)
Orla Donohoe (IFP)
Michael Doyle (FG)
David Egan (LR)
David Fitzgerald (FG)
Áine Gladney Knox (SF)
Tom Healy (IND)
Eugene McGuinness (IND)
John McGuinness (FF)
Jennifer Murnane O’Connor (FF)
Malcolm Noonan (GP)
Natasha Newsome Drennan (SF)
Luke O’Connor (IND)
Seán Ó hArgáin (LAB)
John O’Leary (IND)
Gary O’Neill (AON)
Patricia Stehenson (SD)
Adrienne Wallace (PBPS)
Noel G Walsh (IND)
Source Carlow-Kilkenny returning officer

In Fine Gael, former minister of state John Paul Phelan is leaving the political stage after 13 years in the Dáil and nine in the Seanad. In 2020, Fine Gael ran Phelan, Pat Deering and Patrick O’Neill. The latter two lost out, with Phelan securing a seat on the eighth count after O’Neill’s elimination carried him over the line.

The party is again going for a three-candidate strategy but may struggle in an area that has traditionally had a strong Fianna Fáil vote. In 2016, Fianna Fáil came close to winning three seats out of five. Last time around, Fianna Fáil took more than 37 per cent of the first-preference vote, with party rebel John McGuinness once again capitalising on his strong electoral base, and Jennifer Murnane O’Connor also putting in a strong performance.

Given the state of play in the polls, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil face a scrap with each other to determine who comes out on top. Fine Gael believes there is momentum behind Cllr David Fitzgerald, a former mayor of Kilkenny who was first elected to the council in 2009.

For Sinn Féin, newly elected MEP Kathleen Funchion will be a big electoral loss for the party, especially given the fact she secured a whopping 23.75 per cent of first preference in 2020. She was elected on the first count with 17,500 votes, smashing the quota of 12,274. However, that was on the back of a Sinn Féin surge at the time.

This time, the party is running Bagenalstown’s Áine Gladney Knox and Natasha Newsome Drennan, both of whom were unsuccessful in June’s local and European elections. For the Green Party, Minister of State Malcolm Noonan will run again. Last time, he crossed the line after the elimination of People Before Profit’s Adrienne Wallace. But will negativity towards the Greens in rural Ireland count against Noonan?

On the left, the Social Democrats are running Castlecomer-based aid worker Patricia Stephenson, Labour are running former Kilkenny City mayor Seán Ó hArgáin while Cllr Adrienne Wallace will run for PBP. They’ll be hoping, despite the odds being against them, to put up a fight against the main parties.