Veteran Cork councillor declares his intention to run for a Dáil seat

A veteran Cork city councillor has announced he will run for a Dáil seat in the Cork South Central constituency in the next general election, saying he will take a less traditional approach to canvassing due to his cancer diagnosis.

Independent councillor Paudie Dineen, who has served 10 years on council, is the latest city councillor to declare his candidacy.

“If the time for change has ever been more needed it is now, it’s time to throw the old political rhetoric out with the bath water and seek an alternative change in how we are Governed,” Mr Dineen said, announcing his decision to run in the next general election.

“In the past 100 plus years we had the same o’ same o’ with nothing much changing.” 

Mr Dineen said he believes there is an appetite for change among the electorate.

“Many, many people are very unhappy with how our Government are performing.

“They are very unhappy with Government policy on a number of issues and very unhappy with how they seem to waste public money at will,” he said.

It was third time lucky when Mr Dineen first got elected to council in 2014 having been unsuccessful in 2004 and again in 2009.

Since securing his seat in 2014, Mr Dineen has been re-elected in the two subsequent local elections in 2019 and last June.

He said he intends to remain an Independent as he takes on “the mammoth task of running in Cork South Central”.

Mr Dineen is a retired paramedic who served for 26 years and he also runs a family pub.

In January he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and has recently undergone a radical robotic prostatectomy.

During that time, however, he said he continued to represent his area and the wider city. 

Mr Dineen said he expects to make a full recovery and continue with his work as an active public representative, “hopefully on a national level”.

He said the recovery from the surgery will “affect the way” that he has to approach the general election and that he will not be in a position to call to the doors and canvass in the normal way.

Mr Dineen asked his constituents for their understanding, adding that he has a “few tricks” up his sleeve to counteract this and will also resort to social media to spread his election message.