More so than any other election candidate, Environment Minister Alan Kelly (40) will struggle to escape the words ‘Irish’ and ‘Water’ when he canvasses the doorsteps. No doubt the Labour party deputy leader will highlight his efforts to turn around the fortunes of the utility - but to what extent he has been damaged by the debacle will be borne out by the electorate.He picked up more than 9,500 first preference votes in his first general election campaign in 2011 to take the third seat in Tipperary North. Before that he was an MEP. He is married and has two children.
| Electorate | Seats | Total Poll | Turnout | Valid Poll | Spoiled Votes | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 112,615 | 5 | 78,594 | 69.79% | 77,948 | 646 | 12,992 |
Vote Distribution
Left Right
Count Results
| Candidate | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
13064 | ||||||
|
|
11237 | 11781 | 12819 | 13064 | |||
|
|
7746 | 8209 | 8387 | 9456 | 9958 | 11067 | 11750 |
|
|
7452 | 7834 | 8477 | 8572 | 11427 | 12029 | 12874 |
|
|
7414 | 7542 | 9103 | 9530 | 10114 | 15062 | |
|
|
6718 | 6817 | 7565 | 8165 | 8891 | ||
|
|
6218 | 6821 | 7026 | 9373 | 9560 | 9943 | 10437 |
|
|
5724 | 5921 | 6038 | 6205 | 6205 | ||
|
|
4782 | 5140 | 5193 | ||||
|
|
4472 | 4687 | |||||
|
|
1542 | ||||||
|
|
1341 | ||||||
|
|
238 |
On the Ballot
Mattie McGrath (57) will fancy his chances of holding the seat he first won as a Fianna Fáil candidate in 2007, and retained in 2011 as an Independent, despite the boundary changes this time round which see six TDs battle it out for only five Leinster House Seats. Having left Fianna Fáil before the last contest, he took up a position in the Dáil’s technical group to avail of speaking rights. He lives inNewcastle, Clonmel and is married with eight children. He is former All-Ireland set dancer and includes care of the elderly and rural Ireland among his priorities.
Independent TD Michael Lowry (62) has been a permanent fixture for Tipperary since he was first elected to the Dáil in 1987. A succession of political scandals have pursued the 62-year-old throughout his time in office. Formerly a Fine Gael deputy, he was banned from standing for the party in 1996. He has run as an Independent since, and has consistently garnered the majority of votes cast in Tipperary. Deputy Lowry served as a Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1994 to 1996.
In 2011 Seamus Healy (65), of the Workers and Unemployed Action Group, retook the seat he first won in a by-election in 2000. He held it until 2007 when he lost out in the final count to Fianna Fáil’s Martin Mansergh. But having topped the poll four years later, he will be hopeful of maintain his seat in the new five seater Tipperary constituency where six sitting TDs do battle. He previously served on South Tipperary county council. He was an outspoken opponent of the household charge and his brother Paddy was president of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland for a time.
Noel Coonan (65) was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2002 general election in North Tipperary but returned five years later to take almost 16pc of first preference votes and was elected on the second count. He retained his seat four years later and was appointed Vice Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht in the 31st Dáil. He was elected a councillor in 1991 and also served in the Seanad before his election to Leinster House.
Tom Hayes (63) served as a local councillor and senator before winning a 2001 by-election in Tipperary South and becoming a TD – a position he kept in the three subsequent general election campaigns. He is now a junior minister with responsibility for food and horticulture. He was appointed to the role following the death of Shane McEntee in 2013. He is a dry stock farmer, an avid GAA fan, a keen reader and loves fishing. He is married to Marian and has three sons.
Marie Murphy returned home to county Tipperary after completing a degree in accounting in the UK. She has served as a full-time County Councillor for Cahir and Clonmel areas since 2009. She has campaigned successfully against Eirgrid’s Pylons in South Tipperary. Murphy's stated aims are job creation in the Tipperary, bettering small and medium sized farmers, investment in services at local hospitals, more policing resources and the abolition of the Universal Social Charge.
Councillor Jackie Cahill, a former president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), beat former Minister of State Martin Mansergh to be Fianna Fail's candidate for the General election last year. Cahill is a first time in the county after his election in 2014.
Siobhán Ambrose is an native of Clonmell having been a mayor of the town and vice chair of the since-disbanded South Tipperary Council. When she was first elected to County Council in 2009 she won the the second seat in the constituency. She has held several poistions within the party on the Ard Chomhairle, the Women’s Equality Forum and Ógra Fianna Fáil.
Son of former Minister of Defence has big political pedigree to live up. Michael Smith stands for Fianna Fail, following his father and namesake who was a minister of several different departments and senator during his political career.
Standing for Sinn Féin in Tipperary is Nenagh councillor Séamus Morris, who will be hoping to build on the party’s impressive showing in the 2014 local elections. He is campaigning to put “an end to the marginalisation of rural Ireland”, and says that he is fighting for communities that have lost their post offices and for those that have lost many young people to emigration. Cllr Morris has been mayor of Nenagh two times, and prior to this general election has twice unsuccessfully run for election to Dáil Éireann.
One of the younger candidates standing for election this year, Michael Dillon (24) is calling for cuts to health in Tipperary to be overturned. A native of Portroe, he also opposes water charges. A first time general election candidate, he polled at 1.59 pc in his unsuccessfully bid for a seat on Tipperary County Council during the 2014 local elections.
Green Party candidate Gearóid Fitzgibbon (40) lists his priorities as energy reform, young people, animal welfare and better politics. He is one of a handful of people running in the general election to have pledged to donate a substantial part of their TD salary if elected. A community development officer with the North Tipperary Leadership Partnership, Mr Fitzgibbon wants to see Tipperary become Ireland's most energy-independent county over the next two decades.