Long-serving Kerry councillor Michael Cahill is to seek a nomination to contest the next general election, KillarneyToday.com can reveal.
He wants to join Education Minister, Norma Foley, on the Fianna Fáil ticket and he has written to rank-and-file party members seeking support before the convention.
A councillor for 34 years, succeeding his late father Tom on the local authority, Cllr Cahill is a very consistent vote winner and he was elected on the first count in the Kenmare Electoral Area in the June elections with over 2,000 first preference votes.
It was the highest first preference share achieved by any Fianna Fáil candidate in Kerry.
Married with four grown up children, Cllr Cahill has worked closely with Minister Foley for a number of years and, in his letter to party members, he said he believes they would make “the perfect Kerry team in Dáil Éireann”.
Nominations for the Fianna Fail general election campaign will close at 5.00pm on Wednesday next and others that could be in the running include Cllr Niall Kelleher in Killarney and Cllr Norma Moriarty in Waterville, neither of whom have hidden their political ambitions in the past.
The only other possibility is the current Mayor of Kerry, Cllr Breandán Fitzgerald, but his base in Dingle might be considered too close geographically to Minister Foley’s home place in Tralee.
In the 2020 general election Cllr Moriarty was on the Fianna Fail ticket along with Norma Foley and John Brassil and she received 4.85 per cent of the first preference vote.
KillarneyToday.com: Read by thousands of people every day: To advertise call 064-6631281 or 087-2229761
