East Clare man Joe Cooney, who has spent his working life in the construction business, has built on his electoral success at council level to enter the Dail as a first time General Election candidate for Fine Gael.

The 67-year-old married father of three sons has served on Clare County Council since 2004 and has been a consistent poll-topper in Council elections.

The Boydke man is a committed GAA man having served as Clare County Board GAA chairman for a five year stint from 2016.

Catapulted to the Dail on an election slogan of ‘Talk to Joe’, Deputy Cooney established the family owned East Clare Construction Ltd 25 years ago and handed over the business to son, Gerard 12 months ago.

Grandfather to three, Deputy Cooney had previously ruled out a Dail run and only decided to run after a number of phone calls from party leader, Simon Harris.