Labour to run two candidates in Cork constituency

THE LABOUR Party has decided to field two candidates in Cork South Central in the next general election.

Labour has selected Cllr Paula Desmond as a running mate for sitting TD Ciarán Lynch in a bid to win two seats in the five-seat constituency. It is the first time that Labour has opted to run two candidates in the constituency, which includes all of the southside of the city and the commuter towns of Carrigaline, Passage and Monkstown which Mr Desmond represents on Cork County Council.

Labour had been without a Dáil seat in the constituency since 1997 when Toddy O’Sullivan lost his seat. But in the last general election in 2007, Mr Lynch – then a member of Cork City Council – polled well, with 5,466 votes or 9.25 per cent of the vote and took a seat for the party.

However, in last year’s local elections, Labour’s vote increased further to 16 per cent and it is on the back of that result, along with the party’s high showing in recent opinion polls, that it has decided to run two candidates in the next general election.

Mr Lynch said: “We know that even since last year’s local election, Labour’s support has continued to grow so we believe we are well placed to contest not just one but two seats.”

A former mayor of Cork, Mr Desmond is the daughter of late Labour TDs, Dan and Eileen Desmond and was first elected to the council in 1985 and previously ran for Labour in Munster in the European elections of 1999.