Labour Party selects Kilkenny candidate for upcoming General Election
Mounting speculation that an election will be called in November
The Labour Party has selected Sean O'hArgain to contest the upcoming General Election in Carlow-Kilkenny, with mounting speculation the vote could take place in November.
Councillor O'hArgain was nominated and ratified by his party at a selection convention in the ClubHouse Hotel on Wednesday evening. Among those in attendance was TD and former party leader Alan Kelly.
The former school principal was previously a borough councillor, and served a term as Mayor of Kilkenny in 2012-13. He is now attempting to become the first Labour TD here since Ann Phelan in 2011. She won the first seat on that occasion, but lost out in 2016 when the party suffered a poor showing across the board.
Denis Hynes, then a Labour councillor who later defected to Sinn Fein, ran for the Labour Party the last time out (2020) but polled just 2,208 first preferences and was not elected.