Cork city councillor: I won ‘golden ticket’ with Áras nod

Former lord mayor of Cork, Kieran McCarthy, has said he won a “golden ticket” in securing his first council nomination to be a candidate in next month’s presidential election.

Mr McCarthy, an Independent city councillor for the South East ward, yesterday secured the nomination of Waterford City and County Council.

The election of President Michael D Higgins’ successor will occur on Friday, October 24, and for candidates to get on the ballot, they need the nominations of four of Ireland’s 31 local authorities, or at least 20 Oireachtas members.

Mr McCarthy, who served as lord mayor from 2023 to 2024, was one of 11 candidates who addressed councillors in Dungarvan on Friday, and he won by 11 votes to 10.

First elected as a councillor 2009, Mr McCarthy has been re-elected three times. He is a respected historian who has written dozens of books on Cork’s history.

He was disappointed at Monday night’s meeting of Cork City Council when his colleagues decided not to nominate a candidate.

Mr McCarthy told The Echo that he was “delighted and stunned” at winning the Deise nod.

“Nominations are like golden tickets, so I’m extremely honoured to receive the nomination of Waterford City and County Council, and I have to say I was most impressed with the range of diverse questions; they treated the whole afternoon with much respect,” he said.

“Thank you sincerely to the Waterford councillors, it means an awful lot.”

Mr McCarthy said he intends to fight on, and his next port of call is in his home town, where he will go before Cork County Council to seek its nomination on Monday afternoon.

“Then there are a couple of councils that have to make a decision over the coming days, so you never know,” he said.

“In the meantime, I’m just getting my head around such a huge honour.”

Nominations for the presidency close on Wednesday.