Poll-topper McGrath has no ambitions to follow brother into the Dáil

Despite being the highest vote-getter in the local elections, Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath says he has no ambition to seek a seat in the Dáil.

The 39-year-old Corkman, whose TD brother Michael is the party’s finance spokesman, got 4,700 first-preference votes in the Ballincollig-Carrigaline electoral area.

He got more than 20% of the vote after being up against 20 candidates.

“I was absolutely overwhelmed. I didn’t expect that level of support. I worked hard and think the people rewarded me for that. A good share of it was a personal vote rather than a party vote,” Mr McGrath said.

But he won’t be running for the Dáil anytime soon. “I’m quite happy where I am. Anyway I wouldn’t dream of running in the same constituency (Cork South Central) as my brother,” he said.

Despite being a county councillor, Mr McGrath also works as a parliamentary assistant for his brother.

“Michael will be fighting in a reduced four-seat constituency at the next general election. So he will have a battle on his hands and so all the resources he needs will have to go into that and I’ll be backing him 100%.”

Mr McGrath said that despite making gains in Cork, Fianna Fáil could have done better. “We narrowly lost a few seats but we could have done more considering the backlash against Fine Gael and Labour,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) hasn’t ruled out a crack at a Dáil seat after getting 4,374 first-preference votes in Kanturk-Mallow.

“I wouldn’t rule it out. It’s something myself and my (campaign) team will reflect on,” he said.

However, the question is in which Dáil constituency would he run, as his council electoral area straddles both the Cork East and Cork North West constituencies.

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