Election 2024Constituency Profile

Dublin Fingal East constituency profile: Three incumbents will prove hard to shift in new three-seater

Stardust campaigner Antoinette Keegan running as a National Party candidate

Dublin Fingal East Constituency map
Election 2024: Dublin Fingal East has been newly created from the break-up of the old Dublin Fingal five-seater in 2023′s constituency review
Cormac McQuinn's picture
Cormac McQuinn
Thu Nov 07 2024 - 12:15

Outgoing TDs: Darragh O’Brien (FF), Alan Farrell (FG), Duncan Smith (Lab)

Who are the Dublin Fingal East candidates? Deputy Darragh O’Brien (FF), Deputy Alan Farrell (FG), Deputy Duncan Smith (Lab), Cllr Ann Graves (SF), Cllr Dean Mulligan (Ind4C), Cllr Joan Hopkins (SD), Ian Carey (GP), Manju Devi (FF), Ollie Power (People Before Profit), Margaret McGovern (Aon), Antoinette Keegan (National Party)

Dublin Fingal East has been newly created from the break-up of the old Dublin Fingal five-seater in 2023′s constituency review. It includes the large town of Swords as well as Malahide, Portmarnock, Donabate and Portrane.

Affordable housing, community services, schools and childcare places as well as public transport – whether it be the long-promised Metrolink to Swords or the need for improved commuter rail services – are among the big issues on the doors.

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There is a reasonable chance of all three sitting TDs retaining their seats in the newly redrawn constituency. Fianna Fáil minister for housing Darragh O’Brien and Fine Gael’s Alan Farrell both kept much of their support bases across Malahide and Portmarnock while the same can be said of Duncan Smith in Swords.

Sinn Féin’s candidate, Ann Graves, lost her Fingal County Council seat in June’s local election only to later be co-opted on to the local authority after a party colleague stood down for health reasons. Graves will have an uphill battle if she is to take a seat in the constituency, especially given Sinn Féin’s recent performance in opinion polls.

The Social Democrats’ candidate, Joan Hopkins, had a strong local election vote in the Malahide ward in June – some 3,272 first preferences – and is something of a wild card in the race. Dean Mulligan – former local TD and MEP Clare Daly’s Independents4Change ally on the local authority – also performed well in Swords. Whether they – or Graves of Sinn Féin – can build enough support to threaten the incumbent TDs remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Stardust disaster survivors’ campaigner Antoinette Keegan is running as a National Party candidate. She said would be a “voice for the voiceless” and also that she is committed to the National Party’s “pro-Irish position” in relation to immigration policy.

Possible outcome: Fianna Fáil (1), Fine Gael (1), Labour (1)