McDonald to take on Ahern in race for Dáil seat

SINN Féin’s highest profile politician in the Republic, Mary Lou McDonald, last night announced that she will seek to win a Dáil seat in the constituency of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Ms McDonald, an MEP in Dublin, will seek the nomination at a selection convention on December 1. The only other candidate who has declared so far is Ray O’Reilly from the North Inner City.

The prospect of her running in Dublin Central will give Sinn Féin a very strong chance of winning a seat at the constituency, possibly at the expense of the second Fianna Fáil seat.

In addition to her own strong performance in the European elections last year, her colleague Nicky Kehoe lost out by only 79 votes to Fianna Fail’s Dermot Fitzpatrick in the 2002 election. Dublin Central has long been identified by Sinn Féin as a possible gain.

Dr Fitzpatrick is not running in the next election. Fianna Fáil’s selection convention will be held early in 2006.

The other sitting TDs in the four-seat constituency are Joe Costello of Labour, and Independent Tony Gregory. Fine Gael also holds hopes of regaining a seat here. The late Jim Mitchell was the party’s TD there until he lost his seat in the 2002 election.

The constituency is situated immediately north of the River Liffey and extends from Drumcondra in the east to Cabra in the west. It also encompasses some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country.