Tue, 19 Nov, 2024 - 14:41

Crucial constituencies: Dublin Bay South profile – Candidates and issues

Here is everything you need to know about Dublin Bay South before heading to the polls on November 29th.

Tomas Doherty

Fine Gael will hope to regain at least one seat in Dublin Bay South after a poor by-election performance in 2021.

Here is everything you need to know about the area before heading to the polls on November 29th.

The constituency

Dublin Bay South used to have a reputation as a Fine Gael stronghold and is one of the wealthiest areas of the country.

The constituency stretches from Terenure to Sandymount and includes Rathgar, Rathmines, Donnybrook, Ringsend and the South East Inner City.

The boundaries of Dublin Bay South have changed slightly since the last election, with one electoral division in Kimmage moving to Dublin South-Central. The population of the constituency is 124,257.

The issues

With high rents and other expensive living costs in the capital, affordable and social housing is likely to be a dominant campaign issue.

The constituency has a larger percentage of houses that are rented from a private landlord than nationally. Most of the homes in Portobello, Ranelagh, Rathmines and Ballsbridge are privately rented.

Social housing is currently concentrated in the inner city areas of the constituency. There is a development of 3,500 homes under construction on the former Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, 900 of which are set to be social or affordable.

Seats

There are four seats in the constituency, unchanged since the last election.

The candidates

Labour leader Ivana Bacik won her place in the Dáil here in the 2021 by-election, which left Fine Gael without a seat in the constituency.

Former TD Kate O’Connell is running as an Independent and will likely scupper any chance of Fine Gael securing two seats.

Ex-Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is standing down, so Green candidate and former Dublin lord mayor Hazel Chu will be fighting to keep a seat for the party.