Christopher O'Sullivan is Fianna Fáil pick to retain Cork South West seat

The current Fianna Fáil TD in Cork South West, Christopher O’Sullivan, has been selected to contest the constituency again at the next general election.

Mr O’Sullivan has also confessed that he wouldn’t be surprised if polling day took place before Christmas, despite the Taoiseach’s stated intention for the Government to run its full term until early 2025.

Mr O’Sullivan spoke to The Echo the morning after he successfully sought the nomination of his party at the convention held in Dunmanway, out-polling current county councillor and former mayor Gillian Coughlan in the process.

“If I’m honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a pre-Christmas election,” he said.

“At the end of the day, that’s the choice of An Taoiseach and he has been saying that it’s going to go the full distance.

“But I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear that, in my view, there’s a high likelihood of a pre-Christmas election,” Mr O’Sullivan added.

The TD, who was first elected to the Dáil in the 2020 poll while he was serving as county mayor, is confident that his record as a representative of Cork South West would serve him well come polling day.

“Traditionally, it’s proven difficult to retain your seat in Cork South West — but it all depends on your performance during your term in the Dáil,” he said.

“As far as I’m concerned, I have a record that I can be very proud of.

“It’s easier in opposition to grab headlines and to get traction on social media when you’re pointing out negatives constantly,” he said.

The TD listed progress made with new school builds and developments at Bantry General Hospital among the achievements during his time in Dáil.

“You also look at the investment in sports facilities where you have hundreds of thousands going into Bandon Athletic Track and Skibbereen Rowing Club — what I would say is I’ve delivered and I can’t point to one thing any of the other TDs have delivered, so on that record I’d be very happy with my chances of re-election.”

The TD acknowledged that he faces a tough battle.

“You can’t ignore the fact that there are two party leaders in the constituency,” he said, referring to Holly Cairns of the Social Democrats and Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins.

“Their profile has increased with party leadership, and then Fine Gael would be very determined to win their seat back,” he added.