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Luke O'Connor (Irish Freedom Party)Luke O’Connor is the Irish Freedom Party candidate for Kilkenny City in the 2024 Local Elections. The 28-year-old has worked in hospitality for the last 10 years before recently taking up work as a marketing consultant. He previously ran in the 2019 Local Elections as an Independent candidate, and received 236 First Preference votes. Mr O’Connor is active on social media regarding issues such as immigration, and was one of the organisers of the Kilkenny says No protests last year. “These protests highlighted the damage that was done to Kilkenny tourism and the local economy as a result of much of the tourist accommodation in the city being taken up with asylum seekers and refugees,” Mr O’Connor says. “I have also been vocal in condemning housing minister Darragh O’Brien and the written order he sent out to councillors last year where he told them to disregard the criteria of ‘local connection’ to an area when assessing social housing lists. “I believe we should house Irish citizens first. Other issues that I have raised during the campaign have been the need to reduce rates on local businesses, the need for high street to return to a two way system in order to improve accessibility to the city centre as well as the need for more parking. It is no wonder that there have been a spate of business closures in the city as a result of poorly thought-out policies enacted by our current councillors.”
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Mark O’Farrell (Sinn Fein)Mark O’Farrell is a first time candidate for the Sinn Fein party, and the chairperson of the local branch of Sinn Fein and a self-declared political activist. The election candidate is a practitioner of Metallurgical Arts and a family carer. He is also studying Administration at Ormonde College which he hopes will be an aid if elected in the area.Since the election campaign began, Mr O’Farrell alongside his fellow party colleagues have publicly expressed their stance on local issues. Earlier this month, the Sinn Fein candidate raised concerns for road users and pedestrians in the city. “Any facility for pedestrians to safely cross the ring road has yet to be implemented, a perilous crossing that is often made by many of the people who live and work outside of the Ring Road,” he said. Mr O’Farrell was also critical of the city’s new parking charges which were introduced earlier this year but were later altered by sitting councillors after much public discontent.vMr O’Farrell joined with fellow party candidates to meet with businesses on the High Street. If elected, Mr O’Farrell wants to secure more affordable and social homes, extending family supports and enhancing local transport and access to local healthcare. “Our country needs positive change and that begins at local level,” he said.
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Seán Ó hArgáinSeán Ó hArgáin, who is a former Mayor of Kilkenny, says he hopes to convince local voters he can build on the positive agenda in his year as mayor in 2012/2013. He is one of two Labour Party candidates looking to re-establish a foothold for the party in the city, where for many years it was a stronghold. Mr Ó hArgáin got involved in politics having been elected as Deputy President of USI. The longtime Labour representative said he would be highlighting three key issues, with the first of them being housing, where he feels every young couple or single person in our city deserves a home of their own. He said the second priority will be to continue with the creation of a sustainable city. “Having a new generation in our family brings home much more clearly the crucial importance of taking the urgent actions we need to save our local, national and international environment,” he said. “I will continue to lead by example in promoting sustainable transport. I was proud to be the first councillor to propose both our city bus system and bike rental scheme.” His third priority, he says, will be to ensure that every Kilkenny citizen has the right to well-paid and fair employment. Mr Ó hArgáin was first elected to Kilkenny Borough Council in 2004, and last ran in 2014 for Kilkenny City West, where he got 393 votes and was not elected. He was previously the principal of Gaelscoil Osraí, before his retirement in 2022.
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Martin O’Neill (Social Democrats)Martin O’Neill will be bidding to become the first member of the Social Democrats to be elected in the Kilkenny City Local Electoral Area (LEA) when he contests the local election on June 7. The Tullaroan native is an English, History and Geography teacher at St Kieran’s College and has lived and worked in the city for over 25 years. Mr O’Neill says if elected, he promises to put the same effort, imagination, hard work and dedication into the council work.The election candidate believes Kilkenny County Council could be doing much more to provide further affordable housing, transport links and to create more green spaces in the city, adding the long-running promise to complete the ring road also needs to be brought to a conclusion. Mr O’Neill says he’s ‘tired’ of looking at the failures of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in particular in the city where five of the seven councillors represent these parties. The completion of the ring road, increased public transport and the delivery of social and affordable homes are priorities for the Social Democrats candidate if elected, stating people are ‘ashamed’ to see tents down the canal in 2024. “We are giving the people of Kilkenny City the opportunity to vote for the Social Democrats, move away from the soldiers of destiny who have failed so abysmally. “The people have an opportunity to vote for change, they have to take that opportunity,” he commented.