Who are the 14 presidential hopefuls vying for a Kilkenny County Council nomination?

The race to secure four local authority endorsements to become a candidate for the presidency is well and truly underway as candidates are travelling the length of the country to put their cases forward to county councils.

Kilkenny councillors are scheduled to hear pitches from 14 people on Monday where they can choose to back a candidate or no one at all as the September 24 deadline to get on the ballot looms.

Businessman Gareth Sheridan has already secured nominations from Kerry and Tipperary County Councils, but is not due to appear in Kilkenny.

From nationally recognised names to more fringe figures, here’s a look at all the candidates hoping to sway the Council in Kilkenny.

Walter Ryan Purcell

A businessman living in Killarney, Ryan Purcell has a background in agricultural science and marketing with experience in the renewable energy and recycling sectors.

He currently runs a small international tour company and stood as a candidate for Independent Ireland as a 2024 general election candidate in the Cork North West constituency where he was eliminated after the first count.

Lorna McCormack

McCormack is a sustainability advocate from Meath and founder of an education initiative centred around wool and heritage.

She works in disability and social care, is fluent in Irish Sign Language and is also an EU Climate Pact Ambassador.

Dolores Cahill

Probably the most recognisable name on Monday’s list of candidates, Cahill rose to national prominence as a figurehead of the anti-vax movement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The controversial former UCD professor gained media attention around Europe by promoting conspiracy theories such as the chance of dying of Covid being one in 1.8 billion and that anyone over 70 who received an mRNA Covid vaccine would die within two to three years.

Cahill served as Chair of the far-right Irish Freedom Party until 2021.

Keith McGrory

A businessman from Donegal, McGrory’s campaign focuses on housing. He has said that the office of president could be used to become an effective housing tsar, which is not a power that usually falls under the role’s scope of responsibility.

Tony Corrigan

Corrigan is a qualified solicitor who has already addressed Dublin, Wicklow and Limerick County Councils.

Nick Delehanty

A former lawyer and currently the owner of a doggy-daycare business, Delehanty is a Tipperary native who now lives in Dublin.

He has stated that he is pro-multiethnicity but against multiculturalism and stood in last year’s general election in Dublin Bay South receiving 4% of first preference votes while using slogans such as ‘Make Crime Illegal’.

Catherine Morrissey Smyth

Morrissey Smyth is a corporate consultant from Kildare who is running on a platform to address homelessness and emergency department overcrowding.

When asked about how she plans to deal with the limitations of the office in achieving this at Dublin City Council she replied that she “isn’t a very political person”.

Aodhán OhArrachtáin

A Cavan native, OhArrachtáin is hoping to become ‘Ireland’s first bus-driving president’ while also raising mental health awareness.

Diarmaid Mulcahy

Mulcahy is a former Chairman of the Green Party’s National Council and has had careers as a freelance business advisor and mentor.

From Kerry, he has lived in Galway since the 1980s and says his presidency would focus on peacekeeping.

Mulcahy stood as an independent candidate for a Midlands Northwest seat in the 2019 European elections where he received 0.1% of first preference votes.

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Maria Steen

A barrister and architect, Steen has secured 12 of the 20 nominations required to stand from Oireachtas members including Aontú leader Peader Tóibín, independent TD Mattie McGrath and most recently, Michael Healy-Rae TD.

Steen is a member of the conservative Catholic organisation, the Iona Institute, and has come under fire for her campaigning against the Marriage Equality referendum in 2015 and Abortion referendum in 2018.

Dr Cora Stack

A TUD maths lecturer and researcher from Kerry, Dr Stack is running on the platform of maintaining Irish neutrality.

Charlotte Keenan

Keenan is a farmer and sports psychologist from Westmeath. She stood as an independent candidate in the Longford-Westmeath constituency in last year’s general election, receiving 0.1% of first preference votes.

Charlie Keddy

Now 81 years old, Keddy was the oldest candidate in general election 2024, standing in Wicklow as an independent.

Keddy is an anti-abortion activist and has unsuccessfully contested every local and general election since 1991 even despite slogans such as ‘You can have the sh*t or you can have Charlie’.

Séana Kerr

Formerly an award-winning midwife, Kerr was struck off by Northern Ireland’s Nursing and Midwifery Council earlier this year after claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic was a ‘Trojan Horse’ and that mothers would be at an increased risk of miscarriage if they were vaccinated.

When defending the incident to Galway County Council she described herself as a “changemaker” who was “willing to rock the boat”. Kerr is running on a campaign of the traditional family unit as “the necessary basis of order”.

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