Constituency: Dublin South-West

Young gun Ciaran Ahern got more than 5pc of the first vote preference in his first run at the Dail in 2020 having run a credible campaign. The labour law solicitor born and reared in Rathfarnham is seen as ambitious in striving to build a kinder, fairer and more sustainable society, and he doesn’t mind a joke at his own expense, as his more light-hearted social media posts testify. He can blow his own trumpet too, having been a former Secretary of Rathfarnham Concert Band. It remains to be seen if the Labour party jersey will help or hinder him in voters' eyes.

Barnes’s foundation in Fine Gael politics is strong, being the daughter of the late Monica Barnes, who served as a Senator and TD in the Dun Laoghaire constituency for over two decades, and she will be the running mate of Colm Brophy who would be more established and well known in Dublin SW. Elected as a councillor in the recent local elections representing Bohernabreena / Firhouse she is one of the new breed of Fine Gael substitutes being brought out to replace the big number of party members who are leaving the political field nationally.

Colm Brophy is the Fine Gael spokesperson for Social Enterprise. He served as Minister of State with responsibility for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora from 2020 to 2022. He previously stood unsuccessfully in the 2011 general election in Dublin South Central but was elected in Dublin South West in 2016 and 2020. He was also director of elections in the successful campaigns to the European Parliament of Gay Mitchell and Mary Banotti. Brophy first served in politics as a councillor when he was co-opted as a member of South Dublin County Council in 2008, and served as a councillor until 2016.

Has been a Councillor for five years, and topping the poll in June, Costello joined politics as a working mother and breast cancer survivor with the aim of being a voice for the community and a force for change. The former pharmaceutical industry worker is representing Tallaght Central at council level and will be sitting TD John Lahart’s running mate for Election 2024. Last time out Fianna Fail ran three candidates in the five-seater, but this time out there will be two.

Sinn Fein stalwart first elected to Dail in 2002 on the first count, but missed-out in the 2007 election, before being re-elected in 2011 and 2016. Deputy Crowe topped the poll in 2020. A well-known name and face in the constituency, he previously served as the party’s Education spokesperson and most recently as spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Brexit. Although known as much for his name rather than his party, his support could be affected by recent turmoil engulfing Sinn Fein from different angles. The loss of the Fettercairn part of his constituency in the boundary redraw will not do him favours either.

A lecturer at the Dublin School of Architecture, Duffy says he is passionate about building sustainable housing and creating better communities. He is the Green Party housing spokesperson aiming to see the housing sector transform into one focused on affordability and inclusive of all income levels. Being a Green, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure is also on his agenda. Duffy is married to Green party Communications Minister Catherine Martin, and they have three children. First tried for election in Dublin SW in 2016 without success having gained 1.93pc of the first preference vote, but increased that to 7.34pc in 2020 and took a seat on the last count.

The former barrister and Independent Councillor is active on social media and gets his message to a lot of locals regularly electronically. First elected to the council in 2019 in the Bohernabreena / Firhouse area, he was first past the post in the recent local elections receiving 23.4pc of first preferences, and now trying for the Dail for the first time. He was a keen campaigner for the Marriage Equality and Repeal the 8th referendums and served as mayor of SDCC too, which raised his profile locally. Edge was also the former campaign officer for LGBT Ireland.

Rathfarnham native Niall Hade wants to see more control over Immigration, and build more purpose-built accommodation, to free-up hotel space. He is also campaigning on free Legal Aid for families dealing with civil actions over their family homes, and wants to see the repurposing of vacant properties, and houses which are not being used. He wants to see more supports services for adults with disabilities and their families, and a review of the planning system around agriculture land to allow a second home to be built for a family member. 

Paddy ‘The Hooligan’ Holohan, as he was known when he was a MMA fighter, contested June’s local election in two constituencies – Tallaght South and Tallaght Central – winning seats in both. He chose to serve in Tallaght South and Dean Donnelly, an MMA coach from Tallaght, was co-opted on to South Dublin County Council after being nominated by Holohan amid accusations the move was undemocratic to the last person excluded in Tallaght Central. Holohan successfully ran for Sinn Féin in the 2019 local elections when he topped the poll in the West Tallaght local electoral area. But his time as a Sinn Fein representative was short-lived and he was suspended from the party in January 2020 over comments he made in a podcast.

Long-serving and well known, particularly in his homeland of Rathfarnham and Knocklyon, Deputy Lahart could gain from the boundary change that brings areas of Templeogue and Greenhills into his constituency. He was first elected to South Dublin County Council in 1999 and at successive local elections, topping the poll on a number of occasions. He was first elected to Dáil Eireann in 2016, topping the poll, and subsequently in 2020. He is Spokesperson on Social Enterprise in this Dáil and is a member of the Assisted Dying Committee, as well as the Health Committee. Deputy Lahart is also a Board member of Tallaght Drugs Task Force.

Stood for the Firhouse/Bohernabreena area in the recent South Dublin County Council local elections, and was eliminated with the lowest vote. Mac Oireachtaigh is the leader of Óige Náisiúnach, the Youth Wing of the right-wing and anti-immigration National Party since April 2020 and was an activist during the 2020 General Election in Dublin SW constituency where he is now running. He helped Dublin-West representative and Dublin European Elections candidate Patrick Quinlan in a ‘Demand O’Gorman Resign’ petition focusing on Green Minister Roderic O’Gorman, as well as a ‘House The Irish’ petition. He will be looking to steal some traditional Sinn Fein votes.

Murphy’s socialist ethic started at an early age and developed during his time studying law at UCD. He joined the Socialist party at a young age and worked in Brussels as political advisor to MEP Joe Higgins. When Higgins later ran for election in 2011 and became a TD, Murphy was co-opted to his MEP seat but failed to hold it at the next election. A known activist, Murphy has protested and agitated for many causes, but is probably best known for his action against water charges here. It is now ten years since Paul Murphy, who is now based in Tallaght, was first elected to Dail Eireann, having first gained a seat in the 2014 Dublin South West by-election necessitated by the election of Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes to the European Parliament.

Saoirse Ní Chonárain is a Tallaght native and ran in the recent local elections without success. Now in her mid 30s she has been involved in politics since she was 16, firstly with Sinn Fein. Having ten siblings and a family of her own she says she has seen first-hand the effects of the housing crisis and emigration and that spurred her on to take more of a front seat in politics, choosing Aontu because she has known leader Peadar Toibin from their earlier days in SF. She works in management in a financial institution while studying law, and is involved in a number of charities for underprivileged children and the homeless in Dublin.

Independent candidate Colm O'Keeffe has previously run for a seat in Dublin South West and in the Dublin Bay South by-election in 2021. He has so far been unsuccessful in his election bids. He was eliminated on the second count in the last general election in this constituency, receiving 141 votes. He works as a public servant. 

The Rathfarnham native ran as an Independent for the by-election in Dublin South in 2009 necessitated by the death of Fianna Fail’s Seamus Brennan but failed to land after George Lee got the seat for FG. Now living in Perrystown in the Dublin SW constituency he has recently been able to spread his name locally via a local residents association group he set up, but has now stood back from that to focus on representing the Soc Dems in this election. Set up the Democracy International pan-European group in Belgium in 2011. The new boundary change in Dublin SW won’t hurt him and might help him.

Whelan currently represents Tallaght Central on South Dublin County Council and lives locally with her husband and young family. She works in the constituency office of her running mate Seán Crowe, and will have benefitted from his local knowledge and campaign experience. She aims to prioritise social and affordable housing if elected, with housing being a major concern in Dublin SW just like it is across the country. Whelan shares the same challenges as Crowe in trying to float above the many challenges her party is facing in recent weeks and months with being in the news for all the wrong reasons.