Some of the Key Issues the General Election Candidates Are Looking to Improve Are Housing, Accessibility, Transport, and Healthcare.
With the 2024 General Election fast approaching, the three Limerick County seats are up for grabs. Many key issues, such as the lack of housing, the need for more accessibility and public transport, and the lack of healthcare facilities in the county, are all being addressed by the 15 candidates in this upcoming election.
Patrick O’Donovan (Fine Gael), Richard O’Donoghue (Independent Ireland), and Niall Collins (Fianna Fáil) are the current TDs representing Limerick County in the Dáil. While these three are widely expected to retain their seats, unexpected results have occurred in the past, leaving room for other candidates to make an impact.
To give voters an understanding of what key issues they would tackle, the candidate’s platforms lay out the clear ideas from their manifestos:
Patrick O’ Donovan
Patrick O’Donovan is a candidate for Fine Gael. After being appointed in 2024, O´Donovan served as Minister of Further and Higher Education. His priorities are childcare, housing, migration and the judicial system.
Noreen Stokes
Noreen Stokes is a candidate for Fine Gael. Stokes is currently a Councilor for Limerick County. If elected, Stokes plans to focus on the care of those that are most vulnerable in society such as the elderly and those with special needs.
Joanne Collins
Joanne Collins is a candidate for Sinn Féin. She is a qualified Special Needs Assistant, and her priorities include better rural public transport, broadband and improved access to rural childcare. Collins also plans to tackle issues such as health, the housing crisis and the cost of living.
Michael Ryan
Michael Ryan is a candidate for Aontú. Ryan is formally head of Advocacy and Quality, Brothers of Charity, Bawnmore, Limerick. His priority is to focus on housing waiting lists and vacant council housing across the county. He hopes to implement key services, urban/rural development, and the defence of the elderly and those with disabilities. Ryan also plans to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
Richard O’Donoghue
Richard O’Donoghue is a candidate from Independent Ireland. Deputy O’Donoghue was first elected to the Dail in the 2020 General Election. He co-founded Independent Ireland and his priorities for this upcoming election will be housing, health, agriculture, immigration, taxation, law and order, and infrastructure.
Jim Barrett
Jim Barrett is running as an independent candidate in the upcoming election. He is a local business owner from the Newcastle West area. Barret has worked for An Iarnród Éireann for the last 25 years and hopes to improve the public transport system in Limerick County if elected. He also wants to focus on working with farmers on sustainable practices, builders and developers on developing new homes, and assessing possibilities to better the healthcare system in his constituency.
Richie Crehan
Richie Crehan is an independent candidate from the Fedamore/ Ballyneety area. The 55-year-old businessman is hoping to address the lack of a TD in East Limerick County. Other areas of focus Crehan will address if elected will be to abolish USC tax, inheritance tax, and the TV license fee, more affordable housing for young people, rural garda station to be re-opened, and a guaranteed price for a litre of milk supplied.
April Sheehan Corkery
April Sheehan Corkery is an independent candidate running in the upcoming election. She is one of the leaders of the Roots Party of Ireland, a syndicalist libertarian-left party, which is not yet a registered party. The 33-year-old if elected plans to prioritize accessible employment in rural areas, reopening of hospitals across the Mid-West, and push for the development of an indigenous cooperative tech industry in Shannon, Limerick, and Cork.
Gerben Uunk
Gerben Uunk is running as a candidate for the Party for Animal Welfare (PAW) in the general election. Originally from the Netherlands, Uunk co-founded the newly registered party that wants to be a voice for the voiceless animals, people and the planet. Living in Ashford, he hopes to introduce legislation which helps to prevent animal cruelty, free public transport for children and students, help the homelessness crisis, and increase monitoring of environmental pollution.
Lorraine O’Sullivan
Lorraine O’Sullivan is a member of The Irish People political party. The Tipperary native has been living in Limerick for 16 years and is a mother to three boys. The special needs parent is looking to prioritize the needs of the citizens and for better investments in education, healthcare and affordable housing.
Bridie Collins
Bridie Collins is a member of Fianna Fail. Originally from Donegal, she moved to Limerick at 20 and now runs a pub in Adare. Collin’s focus is community, and her main concerns are the Adare bypass and funding for the Adare sewage system.
Niall Collins
Niall Collins is a member of Fianna Fail and currently the Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science with responsibility for Skills and Further Education. His main election priorities consist of community activism and achieving a fairer society.
Laura Fahy
Laura Fahy is part of the People Before Profit Solidarity Party. The People Before Profit Party believes in ‘Another Ireland’ and wants a 32-county eco-socialist republic. Their election policies include affordable housing, the Cost-of-Living Crisis and free public services.
Rob O’ Donnell
Rob O’Donnell is a member of the Green Party and spokesperson for the Irish language. His main concerns are getting younger people into politics, his passion for the Irish language and the revival of rural towns and villages.
Donna O’Loughlin
Donna O’Loughlin is a member of the Irish Freedom Party. Her election priorities include better overall services for special needs children. Donna waited three years to get her son, who has special needs, a full diagnosis. She also is campaigning for strictly controlled immigration.
📢 Don’t Miss Out!
We also have an article covering the General Election Candidates for Limerick City.
👉 Read it here