O’Donoghue’s brother to make way for return

A brother of former Fianna Fáil cabinet minister John O’Donoghue is expected to step aside from the forthcoming local elections to make way for the return of the former minister to politics.

O’Donoghue’s brother to make way for return

Councillor Paul O’Donoghue, Fianna Fáil whip on Kerry County Council, has not denied talk that he will not contest the May local elections.

John O’Donoghue, 57, a former tánaiste, has already made it clear he wishes to get back to Dáil Éireann.

Neither of the brothers could be contacted for comment yesterday.

Fianna Fáil sources, however, indicate that John O’Donoghue, who lost his Dáil seat in 2011, may be added to the Fianna Fáil ticket to fight local elections in the nine-seat South and West Kerry electoral area.

Paul O’Donoghue headed the poll at a Fianna Fáil convention late last year to select candidates for the May elections. He was chosen alongside another councillor and a cousin, Michael O’Shea, Milltown, and Breandan MacGearailt, a son of ex-Fianna Fáil senator Tom Fitzgerald, from Dingle.

A leading councillor, Paul O’Donoghue has been a key political strategist for his brother for up to 30 years.

Getting elected to Kerry County Council could be a springboard for an attempt by John O’Donoghue to contest the next general election in 2016.

Recently, another former Kerry Fianna Fáil TD, Thomas McEllistrim, was nominated by the party to contest the local elections in the Tralee area. Mr McEllistrim also intends seeking a nomination to contest the next general election.

Mr McEllistrim’s sister, Ann, currently a Fianna Fáil county councillor in the Tralee area, has been added to the Fianna Fáil ticket in the Killarney area.

Fianna Fáil failed to win a seat in either Kerry constituency, both three-seaters, in the last general election. Next time, Kerry will be single, five-seat constituency, with Fianna Fáil hoping to win at least one seat.

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