Constituency profile: Dublin North-West

The shock withdrawal of Independent TD Tom Fleming from the race for the Dáil means a whole swathe of the new Kerry constituency along the Cork and Limerick border and taking in Killarney, Castleisland, and Rathmore is open territory, political observers say.

East Kerry and the Killarney electoral area is not fielding a single sitting politician and the decision is a game-changer in the huge constituency, combined for the first time since 1937.

However, there are indications Labour supporters are urging a rethink of the single-candidate strategy of running only Tralee-based Arthur Spring.

Labour’s Marie Moloney, a Killarney-based senator and a strong candidate in the last general election, has confirmed she is coming under pressure to enter the race, late and all as it is.

In the last general election there were four formidable candidates from the East Kerry area with a combined first preference vote pool of 22,000. In 2011, Fine Gael’s Rathmore-based Tom Sheahan got 5,674 first preferences; Killarney-based Michael Gleeson garnered 4,939; and Ms Moloney 4,926. Former Fianna Fáil councillor Mr Fleming got 6,416 first preferences and took a seat.

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Sinn Féin ‘would creep in during night’, says Joan Burton https://t.co/AE2afU9mvj (RMC) #GE2016 pic.twitter.com/eb9mRxnoTr

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 6, 2016

In 2016, in what is now the second-biggest constituency after Mayo, none of the main parties has a candidate east of Castlemaine or north of Waterville. Labour and Sinn Féin have nobody south of the Slieve Mish mountains and no running mate in the south of the county for their Tralee based TDs.

Just four candidates — Norma Moriarty of Fianna Fáil, Brendan Griffin of Fine Gael, and Independents Michael Healy-Rae and Kevin Murphy — are from the old Kerry South constituency.