Local elections: Everything you need to know about the Cork City North East constituency

Housing is the main issue in the constituency

Cork City North East Labour Party councillor John Maher who was first elected to serve the constituency in 2019.

Who is running?

• Edith Busteed, PBP/Solidarity 
• Martin Condon, Non Party 
• Christa Daley, SF 
• Imelda Daly, FG 
• Sinéad Halpin, Soc Dems 
• Joe Kavanagh, FG
• Tamasin MacCarthy Morrogh, Non Party 
• John Maher, Labour
• Margaret McDonnell, FF
• Oliver Moran, Green
• Ken O’Flynn, Independent Ireland
• Mandy O’Leary-Hegarty, SF
• Shane Ryan, FF 
• Ted Tynan, The Worker's Party
• Anita Ward, The Irish People

Local electoral area information 

Electorate: 35,073 

Population: 44,235 

Seats: 6

Population per councillor: 7,372 

Total candidates: 15

What you need to know

The only councillor not standing for re-election in Cork City North East is in no doubt what the main issue in the constituency is.

Ger Keohane, who announced in January he would not stand due to health reasons, sums it up in one word: Housing.

“It is the number one issue,” he said. “More than 90% of anything councillors get asked about is housing and nothing else compares, in terms of issues.” 

Little wonder he should say this when a quick check on Daft.ie shows that on Thursday, May 23, for example, there were just nine rental properties in the constituency and three of them were over €2,000-a-month.

In Ger’s experience, the constituency, like so many around the city and country, has more than its fair share of the so-called “hidden homeless”.

These are, he points out, the many sleeping in spare rooms of friends or family that don’t show up in official statistics.

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While local councillors can do little to solve the housing crisis, they can lobby the council on behalf of constituents looking for help with housing issues.

For example, one of the things successful candidates can expect to be asked for help with on a regular basis is the council’s Choice Based Lettings system.

This is the system whereby people looking for council accommodation register for weekly updates on available properties that they can register an interest in as soon as they come up.

They could also expect to be lobbying for more to be done to fill the estimated 500 or so vacant council and private properties spread out among a constituency that takes in parts of Blackpool to the west, Mayfield, Montenotte, St. Patrick’s, The Glen, Tivoli, St. Mary’s, Caherlag, Rathcooney and Riverstown, to the east.

But while housing is a major issue in the constituency, another key concern this time round, compared to the last elections in 2019, is water quality. It's been an ongoing problem for 18 months and has been raised repeatedly at council meetings.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran, who was first elected here in 2019, has criticised a decision not to issue a boil water notice. 

“While no 'no drink' notice has ever been issued, this is somewhat disingenuous since the standing advice from Uisce Eireann is to not drink discoloured water and the issue is so pervasive and recurring.

“The longevity of the issue is seriously affecting residents, who have demonstrated extraordinary patience but who cannot depend on the water that comes from their taps," he said recently.

Veteran Worker’s Party councillor Ted Tynan tabled a motion for the abolition of the utility over the issue.

Cllr Oliver Moran has criticised a decision not to issue a boil water notice in the constituency. Photo: Darragh Kane

“Only when these essential water treatment services are returned to democratic, public control can the residents of Cork City and beyond have faith in the quality and safety of our water supply,” Mr Tynan said.

Running as “an independent candidate, under the banner of the Irish people”, Anita Ward identifies as a nationalist in a constituency where some 14.4% of the population was born outside Ireland.

Priorities for her are “controlled migration” and prioritizing housing “for the Irish”, although there are others in the constituency who say they rarely hear conversation or questions around immigration issues.

While Ms Ward is readily identifiable with these issues, another candidate who is readily identifiable with a single issue is Martin Condon.

He is non party and is campaigning, he states, on “drug reform, first and foremost”. He also wants better community policing, improved health services, and job creation.

Also standing is Fine Gael’s Imelda Daly, vying for a seat alongside party colleague and long-serving councillor and former Lord Mayor, Joe Kavanagh. The Glanmire teacher is a graduate of a Fine Gael programme designed to eliminate barriers for women in politics.

Ms Daly was one of 23 women to complete Fine Gael’s Women’s Network Local Election Candidate Training Program to support aspiring female politicians.

Originally from Glanmire, she has identified a lack of facilities for young people as being one of her main issues, along with “accessing narrow roads” and a lack of public street lighting.

Sinn Féin’s Christa Daley has affordable and social housing targets firmly in her sights along with promises to improve the standard of housing in local council estates.

Sinn Féin election candidate Christa Daley has affordable and social housing targets firmly in her sights. Picture: Dan Linehan

She is standing alongside party colleague Mandy O’Leary-Hegarty, who failed to get elected last time round after polling 267 first preference votes in the 2019 election. The school secretary, who has been a local area representative for Sinn Féin for the past six years, plans to campaign on issues from “housing maintenance to road repairs”.

She has also vowed to “be a voice for everyone in the ward” that she describes as being “potentially one of the most diverse wards in Cork City”.

Undaunted by receiving 309 first preference votes in 2019, another candidate having another crack at trying to get elected is Sinéad Halpin for the Social Democrats.

She plans to tackle “major homelessness, hidden homelessness, stretched public services, and a divided city, in terms of poverty and access to services”.

Independent Ireland candidate Ken O’Flynn sharing a cup of tea with 93-year-old Breda Cramer from Ballyvolane. Picture: Howard Crowdy

Other candidates include researcher Edith Busteed, standing for People Before Profit-Solidarity, and non party Tamasin MacCarthy Morrogh.

Fine Gael’s councillor Joe Kavanagh, who is a former Lord Mayor of Cork and a former Deputy Lord Mayor, is one of five councillors looking for re-election in a constituency he has represented since April 2011.

First elected to serve the constituency in 2019 is Labour’s John Maher and Ken O’Flynn, who got the most first preference votes as a Fianna Fail candidate that year but is now standing for Independent Ireland.

Also running are medical secretary Margaret McDonnell and post-primary teacher Shane Ryan — both for Fianna Fáil.

Despite all the pre-election rhetoric and promises, it remains to be seen to what extent any of the 15 candidates can do to shake voters out of their apathy towards local elections. In 2019, for example, while the electorate totalled 30,910, just 13,411 valid votes were cast.