Four battling for Fianna Fáil Dáil nomination in Offaly

Offaly Fianna Fáil members look set to select one candidate to contest the upcoming general election when they meet for their selection convention in Tullamore on Monday night (September 23).

Four sitting councillors are planning to put their names before members at the convention in the Tullamore Court Hotel: Eddie Fitzpatrick, Tony McCormack, Claire Murray and Peter Ormond.

Two of the four have previously contested general elections: Cllr Ormond, who is based in Shinrone and represents the Birr Electoral Area, and Cllr Fitzpatrick, from Cloneyhurke, who represents the Edenderry Electoral Area.

Cllr Fitzpatrick, who has contested three previous general elections – one of them as an Independent candidate, came agonisingly close to securing a Dáil seat in 2016, alongside Barry Cowen, when he lost out to Sinn Féin newcomer Carol Nolan by a mere 170 votes for the third seat in what was a standalone three-seat Offaly constituency at the time.

On the back of that strong showing, and having topped the poll in the Edenderry area at the recent local elections with just under 2,000 first preferences, Cllr Fitzpatrick will fancy his chances of securing the party's nomination.

He was one of the first councillors to declare his intention of running for the Dáil seat left vacant in Offaly following the election of Barry Cowen to the European Parliament in June.

Also fancying his chances at Monday's convention will be Tullamore-based councillor Tony McCormack. Cllr McCormack, who is the current Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council, publicly declared in recent weeks that Tullamore needs its own TD.

Cllr McCormack, who was co-opted onto Offaly County Council for the Tullamore Electoral Area to fill the vacancy created with the departure of Cllr Sinead Dooley, runs a very successful print business in Tullamore and said he intends to put his “best foot forward” at the convention in order to secure the party nomination.

Conscious of the strong legacy left behind in Offaly by the Cowen family, which stretches back to when the late Ber Cowen was first elected to Dail Éireann in 1969, Cllr McCormack pointed to the fact that the party vote in the Tullamore Electoral Area remains particularly strong.

The party managed to secure a whopping 45% of the first preference vote at the local elections in June, which saw it comfortably retain its four council seats.

With Offaly now a standalone three-seater constituency for the upcoming general election, Cllr McCormack says Tullamore, as the capital town in the county and the town with the biggest population, needs its own TD, and that he would “hope to be that person”.

Meanwhile, Cllr Peter Ormond, who also topped the poll in the Birr Electoral Area in the June local elections and has seen his vote share steadily increase for the party over six successive local elections, is set to put his name before the party faithful on Monday.

He contested his first general election in 2020 and was eliminated on the 6th count having secured 4,360 votes. He secured 5.87% of the first preference vote share (4,073 votes).

Having long signalled his intention to secure a Dáil seat, Cllr Ormond’s base in Shinrone would see him doing battle with two other strong candidates from the South Offaly end of the constituency, Deputy Carol Nolan, who left Sinn Féin in 2018 and is now an Independent, and Fine Gael’s John Clendennen, who is a successful publican in Kinnity and also operates a glamping business.

The fourth candidate who is planning to put her name before the Fianna Fáil Offaly convention is Edenderry-based nurse and first-time councillor, Claire Murray, who was elected to Offaly County Council at the local elections in June.

Working as a practice nurse at the GP surgery in Rhode, Cllr Murray had a very strong showing on her electoral debut for the party and secured a council seat on the second count with a total of 1,134 votes.

Given the fact that all political parties are now subject to gender quotas which stipulate that at least 40% of their candidates across the country must be female, Cllr Murray could benefit from this ruling by being added to the party ticket by Fianna Fáil headquarters should she fail to secure the nomination at convention.

The Offaly Fianna Fáil convention gets underway on Monday night at 8pm and it is understood that up to 400 party members may be eligible to vote.