Local issues rear their head as candidates pound the streets

There was little sign of an election in the suburban streets of Bishopstown in Cork, where one of the newest candidates to be added to the Fine Gael ticket was already two weeks into her canvass.

The candidate posters’ reach had yet to spread beyond the city’s main roads into the suburban streets. However Julie O’Leary, a 25-year-old barrister, and two party colleagues go door-to-door along the quiet residential streets off the Curraheen Rd.

Last autumn, junior minister Dara Murphy narrowly beat Senator Colm Burke for the only Fine Gael candidacy in the Cork North Central constituency, only for the party to add Ms O’Leary to the ticket, last month.