Constituency: Cork East

Kathryn Bermingham is standing for public office for the first time, after being selected to run for Independent Ireland in September. Mrs Bermingham works as a school manager in UCC. According to Independent Ireland, she sits on several boards related to research health, safety and educational advancement and is the chairperson of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee at UCC’s School of Biochemistry. Kathryn is the first candidate from her party, formed in November last year, to seek election to the Dáil in Cork East.

Outgoing TD Pat Buckley began his career in politics after he was elected to Cork East in the 2011 Local Elections and has stood successfully in the last two General Elections. The east Cork native got involved in campaigning as a mental health rights activist following the death of a loved one through suicide and has served as Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. In the 2016 General Election, Buckley received 5,538 first-preference votes and was elected to the fourth and final seat in Cork East on the tenth count. In the 2020 election, the outgoing TD topped the polls with 12,587 first-preferences and was elected to the constituency on the first count.

Ross Cannon, a security guard based in Killavullen, has stood unsuccessfully for election on three previous occasions. He ran as an Independents Together candidate for Fermoy LEA in the 2014 Local Elections, in which he accumulated 138 first-preference votes, and stood as a non-party candidate for Cork East in 2016, in which he gathered 147 first preferences. Mr Cannon also ran in this year’s Local Elections, contesting Mallow LEA for the Irish People party, and was eliminated on the sixth count after securing 322 first preferences.

Mary Linehan-Foley started out in politics 25 years ago when she was elected to Youghal Town Council as a Fianna Fáil representative in 1999. She retained her position on the council in the 2004 elections and stood unsuccessfully for election to Midleton LEA in 2009. She has since carved out a successful career as an Independent councillor for Cork East, after securing a seat on the sixth and final count in the 2014 Local Elections and topping the polls in 2019 and earlier this year. Cllr Linehan-Foley has also vied for a Dáil seat. In the 2016 General Election she gathered 3,145 first preferences and increased this tally to 3,903 in 2020.

Catherine Lynch is a healthcare professional who is from Bantry. The upcoming election will mark the first time that Ms Lynch stands for public office. Ms Lynch is the second Independent Ireland candidate to be announced for Cork East, with Kathryn Bermingham also standing.

Cllr Noel McCarthy is one of three sitting Fermoy LEA representatives who are seeking to become the first TD from the area in some time. The Fermoy resident has been elected locally on all previous attempts, in 2009 and 2014 as a Labour representative, and for Fine Gael in 2019 and 2024. In a crowded field earlier this year, he won nearly 16% of the vote and was elected on the second count. This election is not the first time that Cllr McCarthy has sought a Dáil seat. He ran unsuccessfully for Cork East in 2016, when he captured 4,406 first preferences and was eliminated on the eighth count.

Asch Ní Finn is a seamstress from Knockraha who is contesting Cork East for People Before Profit-Solidarity. Ms Ní Finn, who is a long-time community activist according to her party, is another first-time electoral candidate. She is standing as a natural successor to Ciara Leonardi-Roche, who ran for the previous iteration of the Solidarity party, the Anti-Austerity Alliance, who secured 1,999 first preferences from Cork East voters in the 2016 General Election.

Cllr Deirdre O’Brien from Mitchelstown won a seat in Fermoy LEA in 2019 on the first occasion she contested an election, securing 2,225 first-preference votes to be selected for the third seat in the constituency. The full-time councillor, who is a daughter of former TD Ned O’Keeffe, was successful in retaining her council seat earlier this year, when she won 1,891 first-preferences and was elected on the eighth count to become one of three Fianna Fáil representatives elected. Cllr O’Brien was selected by her party to run in the upcoming General Election in late September and it is the first time she is seeking to win a seat in the Dáil.

James O’Connor is one of the four outgoing Cork East TDs. The Youghal-born candidate comes from a farming background and was first elected to public office in the 2019 Local Elections, when he secured the fourth seat in Midleton LEA after garnering over 10% of the vote (1,535 first preferences). At age 22, he became one of the youngest ever Fianna Fáil members to be elected a TD when he won a seat in Cork East in the 2020 General Election. In that race, he collected 7,026 first preferences to secure the fourth and final seat in the constituency.

Clíona O’Halloran made her electoral debut last year when she ran for a seat on Cobh LEA. The Green Party member came very close to being elected, but was denied the sixth and final seat in the constituency after a recount. Mrs O’Halloran, who is a project manager and sustainable business consultant, will be hoping to become the first Green Party representative elected to Cork East in the upcoming election. The party had a relatively strong showing in the area in the previous General Election, when councillor Liam Quaide collected 3,749 first preferences.

John O’Leary is from Kerry Pike in Cork and lists his occupation as a businessman. He is also known as Sean O’Leary and previously ran in several constituencies in the 2020 General Election and is now listed in several constituencies this time around as well, including Cork East. He garnered headlines last time for canvassing from an hospital trolley and listed healthcare and homelessness among his key concerns.

Fermoy councillor William O’Leary spent most of his political career as a member of Fianna Fáil but announced he had decided to become an Independent last March after becoming “disgruntled” with his former party. Cllr O’Leary was perhaps rewarded for his choice in June’s Local Elections, as he topped the polls with 2,920 first preferences and was elected on the first count. In the 2019 election, the councillor was elected to a seat in Fermoy with less votes (2,212) from a field that contained six less candidates. The representative is seeking to be elected as a TD for the first time in this year’s General Election.

James Peter O’Sullivan is standing in his second election as a candidate for The Irish People party. Mr O’Sullivan, who is a machinist from Midleton, ran in Midleton LEA in the Local Elections in June and won 211 first-preference votes and was eliminated after the fourth count.

Medhi Özçinar is standing in his first General Election, having run for Sinn Féin in the Local Elections earlier this year. Contesting Cobh LEA, Mr Özçinar secured 629 first preference votes and was eliminated after the eighth count. A Cobh resident who is the son of a Kurdish father and an Armenian mother, Mr Özçinar works in customer service for a multinational company and he is also a small business owner. Mr Özçinar’s candidacy means that Sinn Féin is running two candidates in the constituency for the first time.

Cllr Liam Quaide was first elected to office when he became a Green Party councillor for Midleton, securing the seventh and final seat in the constituency after winning 1,024 first preferences (6.8% of the vote) in the 2019 Local Elections. Cllr Quaide then ran unsuccessfully in Cork East in the 2020 General Election, winning a respectable 6.9% share of the vote. Last year the representative, who is a clinical psychologist, decided to leave the Green Party after becoming frustrated over the closure of the Owenacurra mental health facility in Midleton. After some time as an Independent, he joined the Social Democrats and was re-elected to Midleton LEA in June.

Frank Roche is a former councillor for Fermoy LEA, who served on the county council after being elected to the sixth seat in the constituency after garnering 899 first-preferences in 2019. The Independent candidate had run in the previous Local Elections in 2014, but failed in his bid to win a seat. In June, he was also unsuccessful in his attempt to be re-elected to Fermoy after he secured 628 votes and was excluded after the fourth count. Mr Roche, who announced his intention to run in Cork East in late October, is seeking to be elected as a TD for the first time.

Mark Stanton is the son of outgoing Cork East TD David Stanton, who earlier this year announced that he would no longer contest the Cork East Dáil seat he has held since 1997. The younger Stanton, born and raised in Midleton, has not run for public office up to now and spent the last eight years working in recruitment in Ireland and the UK. His father has been the sole Fine Gael representative elected to Cork East in the last two Dáil terms, winning over 13.5% of the vote share in the 2016 General Election and more than 11% in 2020.

Mona Stromsoe, who has been a resident of Midleton for 30 years, is running for a place in the Dáil for the first time. The Aontú candidate first dipped her toes in the electoral waters when she ran for Midleton LEA in this year’s Local Elections. Mrs Stromsoe failed in her attempt to win a seat on Cork County Council but still garnered a respectable 692 first-preferences (4.3% of the vote). Mrs Stromsoe succeeds Connor Hannon as Aontú candidate for Cork East. Mr Hannon won 1,337 first preferences (2.45%) in the constituency in the last General Election.