Local elections: Everything you need to know about the Midleton constituency
Cllr Michael Hegarty has been elected every time since 1985 and political pundits expect him to continue that run. Picture: David Creedon
- Edith Adams – SF
- Ann-Marie Ahern – FF
- John Buckley – Ind
- Sean Buckley – Ind
- Paddy Bulman – IF
- Rory Cocking – FG
- Alison Curtin – FG
- Clodagh Harrington – GP
- Michael Hegarty – FG
- Eileen Kelly-McCarthy – Ind Ire
- Mary Lehihan Foley – Ind
- Patrick Mulcahy – FF
- Michelle Neville – Ind
- James Peter O’Sullivan - IP
- Liam Quaide – SD
- Mona Stromsoe – Aontú
The longest-serving county councillor in Cork is seeking re-election in the Midleton local election area, which last time out also returned the longest-serving councillor in the history of the State.
Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty, who lives in Churchtown South, has been elected every time since 1985 and political pundits expect him to continue that run.
He was a very close friend of Independent (and former Fine Gael) councillor Noel Collins, from Midleton, who died in January 2022 after serving 55 years as a local politician.
Collins was held in such esteem his colleagues erected a plaque outside the debating chamber in County Hall to his memory.
John Healy, who is the outgoing Deputy Mayor of County Cork, is not seeking re-election this time. He was co-opted onto the council to take the place of the late Mr Collins.
Hegarty is ‘old school’ — elected at the age of 24 — without any scares along the way and readily admits he’s not into social media canvassing.
“Back when I started out, my late parents and my aunt acted as secretaries answering all the phone calls and letters. It was a different scene back then,” he said while maintaining that posters are still important.
“I get calls from people if my posters aren’t up in their area. Out of sight is out of mind. I’m not big into social media. It’s important to be out there meeting the people,” he added.
Two well-established councillors in this municipal district — Independent and former Sinn Féin councillor Danielle Twomey and Fine Gael's Susan McCarthy — have both decided not to put their names on the ballot sheet.
The East Cork Municipal District Council is a seven-seater and the second biggest in the county.
Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley has sown up her hometown of Youghal for some time but will face a bit more local competition this time out.
However, she must be regarded as a shoo-in, especially as she topped the poll in 2019 taking Noel Collins off the top spot for the first time in decades.
Her late father, Paddy Linehan, was a town councillor for 43 years.
She said: "I went canvassing with him when I was 10. I grew up in a political family, but I never envisaged representing myself. In 1999 he said he was retiring. He said ‘I think you’ve got the mouth for it, give it a try.' I scraped in (to the town council)."
She subsequently served 15 years on Youghal UDC and has 10 years under her belt in the county council.
“I’m not interested in topping the poll again. Just getting in will suit me fine,” she added.
Liam Quaide was a first-time winner in 2019, then was just one of only two Green councillors elected to serve in County Hall.
The clinical psychologist, who works for the HSE, has since jumped ship to the Social Democrats.
He said he made the move because he saw them as a better fit for addressing problems with housing, health and climate/biodiversity in tandem.
“We can't expect people to have the bandwidth to engage with our environmental crises if their basic need for stable accommodation is not being met, or if they are at their wit's end trying to source disability supports for their children,” Quaide said.
He helped lead a campaign against the closure of Owenacurra — the only residential mental health service in East Cork (in Midleton). It resulted in a re-think by the HSE and a proposed multi-million euro investment in mental health services in the region.
The Greens have fielded Clodagh Harrington from Midleton. She grew up in Glanmire and worked abroad for a few years after studying history at UCC. She's gone back there to lecture.
Harrington says her main goals, after working in education for 20 years, are promoting youth engagement in politics and climate issues.
“As a mother, I am concerned about the challenges that lay ahead for future generations. The time to act is now,” she says on her leaflets.
Fianna Fáil is running two candidates, one in the east of the constituency and the other in the west.
Ann Marie Ahern, an auctioneer based in Midleton, comes from a family steeped in politics but is seeking election for the first time.
She was co-opted onto the county council in 2020 to replace James O’Connor when he was elected as the youngest member of the Dáil.
Ahern, an auctioneer since 2001 and a qualified conflict mediator, (which can come in handy on the doorsteps) can rattle off a serious political pedigree.
Her great-grandfather, Eamon Ahern, sat on Cork County Council from 1919 until 1953 and her grandfather, Liam, was a member of the Dail.
Her father, Maurice, was a county councillor for more than 30 years and her uncle, Michael, served a similar time as a TD for Cork East.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she’s continuing the political dynasty and has a formidable machine behind her. She has to be one of the favourites to get a seat here.
“We are getting a lot of national issues on the doorsteps. But I point out that councillors deal with local issues. That is all we have control over. In some respects our hands are tied a lot by central government,” she said.
Ahern’s running mate is popular GAA commentator Patrick Mulcahy who will be hoping to hoover up votes from the eastern side of the municipal district as he’s from a well-known farming family in Killeagh.
The 30-year-old started GAA commentary in 2017 and has contributed on hurling and football in national newspapers, radio and to the ‘Rebels On Line’ streaming platform.
He's also well known for his commentaries on GAAGo and RTÉ Radio 1. However, he will not be heard on RTÉ airwaves until the polls close on June 7 due to his candidacy, in accordance with Coimisiún na Meán rules.
Mulcahy started up his commentary career as a volunteer presenter for Youghal Community Radio and is currently secretary of the East Cork GAA Board.
His full-time job since 2021 has been as a parliamentary assistant for TD James O’Connor.
Another TD's assistant is also running, this time for Fine Gael.
Rory Cocking has worked as a parliamentary assistant for David Stanton since 2017. The TD has decided that he’s not going to seek re-election to the Dáil.
The 36-year-old first started out as a 'gas market reporter and analyst' for an Italian-headquartered energy trading company. Naturally, he speaks a bit of Italian.
Born and bred in Midleton, Cocking began his political life as a member of Young Fine Gael and transitioned to chairman of the local party organisation and then constituency secretary.
It was a “logical step” he says to move into the void being left by Stanton and outgoing councillor McCarthy — both have been “very helpful” to him.
“The reception at the doors has been good so far. All I can do now is keep my fingers crossed,” he added.
The third FG candidate Alison Curtin is from Youghal and for the last five years has run a pre-school business, ‘Scamps and Rascals’ in Ladysbridge.
Another first-time candidate, she’s a graduate of Mary Immaculate College and UCC and worked in childcare for many years before opening the business.
She will be known to many people as the author of the popular children's book ‘The Pea and Pansie Start Big School’ which stemmed from her day-to-day experiences working with pre-school children.
“The last few months have been busy, but I wouldn't change the experience for the world as I have learned so much from the locals, especially during the door-to-door canvassing and I look forward (if elected) to getting stuck into the local issues and hopefully pushing projects over the line that will benefit our community,” she said.
Sinn Féin have a pretty strong power base in this area, led by their TD Patrick Buckley. Local pundits say they should get a seat here, but others maintain that the party's organisation isn’t as good as it was in previous years.
They’ve put Nigerian-born Edith Adams in the field. She’s a mother of four children, three of whom are adults while “the baby of the family is 14”. Adams came to Ireland 23 years ago and lives in Cobh, while she works full-time at Tesco, Midleton.
She said juggling being a working mother with four children and being an aspiring politician isn’t easy and she knows what it’s like for other people in her position.
“The children are old enough now so I can look to getting elected. I have been knocking on doors since April,” she said.
There are other candidates in the area, but they’re likely to struggle unless there are major upsets.
They are Eileen Kelly-McCarthy, who is running for Independent Ireland and lives in Castlemartyr; Youghal-based Paddy Bullman, representing Ireland First; former Midleton town councillor Sean Buckley, running as an Independent, and Aontu’s Mona Stromstroe, who also lives in Midleton.
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