Councillor replaces cousin on Cork North West Fine Gael general election ticket

The Fine Gael posters for the forthcoming General Election in Cork North West will be the same but different following the selection of Michael Creed, the councillor cousin of retiring TD, Michael Creed, to run alongside John Paul O’Shea, the Kanturk based councillor, on the ticket for the party.

Michael Creed, who was recently re-elected at the head of the Fine Gael ticket in the Macroom Municipal District, topped the poll again at the Fine Gael convention for Cork North West which was held in Springfort Hall near Mallow, narrowly beating his colleague on Cork County Council, Eileen Lynch.

The convention, chaired by Further Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan, heard a directive from headquarters at the outset of the meeting directing that one candidate would have to be from the northern end of the constituency. 

This meant that John Paul O’Shea, as the only candidate from that end of Cork North West, would automatically be selected.

The directive prompted an argument along similar lines to that which occurred at the recent convention for Cork South Central. When the matter was put to the vote, Michael Creed emerged as the winner with a handful of votes to spare over Eileen Lynch. Due to the directive, the names of Michael Creed and John Paul O’Shea will be on the Fine Gael ticket for the constituency.

“Roll on the General Election, Fine Gael is rejuvenated with a new leader and the polls are good,” said Mr. Creed, who wished his party colleagues, both Eileen Lynch and John Paul O’Shea, well.

He acknowledged that a significant number of Fine Gael TDs were not going forward but, as he put it, there would always be someone who would carry the party’s banner in Cork North West.

His fellow candidate and councillor, John Paul O’Shea, said there had been no disquiet at the Cork North West convention along the lines of the Cork South Central convention. “Since the constituency of Cork North West was formed in 1981, it’s always been one candidate from the North and one from the South,” he said.

Mr. O’Shea said he expected the General Election to be held later this year.