Micheál Martin and Seamus McGrath to contest general election in Cork South Central 

Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Carrigaline-based councillor Seamus McGrath are to contest the general election for Fianna Fáil in Cork South Central. 

The Tánaiste took to X last night to announce his selection at the convention on Saturday night. 

"It’s an honour to be selected as Fianna Fáil’s General Election candidate for Cork South Central at our convention this evening. 

"Congratulations to Seamus McGrath on his selection also.

"My deepest thanks as always to the members, and my family, for their support. Míle Buíochas."

It’s an honour to be selected as Fianna Fáil’s General Election candidate for Cork South Central at our convention this evening. Congratulations to @McGrathSeamus on his selection also.

My deepest thanks as always to the members, and my family, for their support. Míle Buíochas. pic.twitter.com/QUXeE3xc0z

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 28, 2024

Sitting councillor Seamus McGrath's brother is Michael McGrath European Commissioner-Designate for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. 

Posting on Facebook, he said he was "truly honoured" to have been selected as a candidate to contest the election. 

"After serving as a county councillor for 17 years, I think the time is right for me to take the next step and I will embrace the challenge with everything I've got."

Among the other Fianna Fáil candidates in Cork who are confirmed to be contesting the general election are Deputy Padraig O'Sullivan in Cork North Central and Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan in Cork South-West. 

Earlier this week, Deputy James O'Connor and Councillor Deirdre O'Brien were also selected to contest the elections for the party in Cork East. 

Mr O’Connor was first elected to the Dáil in the February 2020 election.

In terms of the highlights of his first term, the TD said that the biggest challenge Cork East faced was its huge population growth, reflected in the recent constituency redraw, and that it needed a significant increase in funding for more resources in education.

“Schooling is a huge problem in terms of capacity and I’ve been working on this, for example the joint school campus in Carrigtwohill is now home to the largest investment ever by the State for a joint school campus with a primary and post primary school on site.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work in transport but we do need to see a further funding of the National Development Plan for projects in the East Cork area, the Midleton to Carrigtwohill scheme is important to advance, that’s been held up by the Minister for Transport, and we have seen progress on the Midleton to Youghal scheme which is hugely important to Youghal town.” 

Deirdre O’Brien said she was hugely honoured to be selected by her party to contest the Cork East constituency and said her priority was to secure more Government funding for Uisce Éireann to enable the utility to deal with the significant challenges relating to wastewater treatment capacity, which would allow more housebuilding, and to fix leaks.

“I come from a long republican tradition and I have a broad experience from being employed and self-employed,” said the candidate who added that she was looking forward to the campaign and getting down to making preparations, such as ordering posters, already."