SENATOR IVANA Bacik is expected to be the sole nominee at the Labour convention on Tuesday evening to select a candidate for the Dublin Central byelection, which takes place on June 5th. The convention will be chaired by party leader Eamon Gilmore.
“I would be honoured to contest it for the party,” she said.
Elected to the Seanad two years ago by the graduates of Trinity College, she is also Reid Professor of Criminal Law and director of undergraduate teaching and learning at TCD.
She first came to prominence as a student activist. A practising barrister, she is the author of Kicking and Screaming: Dragging Ireland into the 21st Century, published by the O’Brien Press in 2004.
The byelection arose due to the death of Independent TD Tony Gregory.
The Fine Gael candidate is Senator Paschal Donohoe and the Gregory organisation has nominated Cllr Maureen O’Sullivan.
The Fianna Fáil convention takes place on Wednesday night and the expected contenders for the nomination are Cllrs Tom Stafford, Mary Fitzpatrick and Maurice Ahern, brother of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern who is also a TD for Dublin Central.
Ms Bacik said in a press statement: “After speaking with a number of colleagues from the Labour Party and the Dublin Central constituency recently, I’ve decided to put my name forward for the nomination to contest the byelection for the party.
“These are critical times for the future of the country. Over the last number of weeks I’ve been canvassing with local Labour candidates in Dublin, and the desire among voters for a real alternative to this clapped-out, weary Government is remarkable.
“Perhaps more so than any other constituency, Dublin Central has paid the price for the cronyism and incompetence of Fianna Fáil during the boom years,” she said in her statement.
“In the past decade the resources existed to once and for all tackle the scandal of urban decay, entrenched poverty and illiteracy, yet that opportunity was squandered.”