Kilbeggan native to face renua leader in polls

They may be 35-year-old mothers running for election in the new Dublin Bay South constituency in next year’s general election, but that’s where the similarities end between Cllr Kate O’Connell and Deputy Lucinda Creighton, according to the Kilbeggan native.

Cllr O’Connell, a Rathgar-based mum of two and pharmacy owner, was recently selected by Fine Gael to run alongside Deputy Paul Murphy in the newly redrawn constituency. One of the duo’s competitors in next year’s general election will be former party favourite, Renua Ireland leader Deputy Lucinda Creighton.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Ms O’Connell, who is expecting her third child this September, was adamant that she is a very different candidate to the woman she replaced on the Fine Gael ticket.

“I have my own business, I have worked since I was 15 or 16. I worked as a care assistant in Tullamore, in restaurants in England and as a pharmacist all over the country. Lucinda Creighton worked for a short period of time in the field of law before she entered politics. I am very much rooted in this area. I am married to a guy from the area and have businesses here.

“I don’t think that Lucinda Creighton represents the likes of me at all. We have nothing in common apart from the fact that we are female and 35.”
Ms O’Connell is the daughter of former Fine Gael county councillor, Michael Newman. She entered electoral politics last summer when she had the distinction of being the first Fine Gael councillor past the post in the local elections.

While Fine Gael fared poorly in the capital in the local election, winning only eight of 63 seats, the party bucked the trend in her South East Area with four of eight seats.

Described by Ms O’Connell as “Garret Fitzgerald land”, south Dublin has been a Fine Gael heartland for decades and the party’s newest candidate hopes it remains so. She says that many local party activists who campaigned for Deputy Creighton “felt very let down” when she left the party. As a young mother, living and running a business in the south Dublin area, she says that she is “very much in tune with reality”.

“When you work as a community pharmacist you deal with all sectors of society, from the heroin addict to the wealthy person with severe depression. I have also been running a business in a recession and am fully aware of the sacrifices needed to keep businesses afloat.

“I feel very much in tune with what is going on in the real world and as a result have something to offer that is different to most other candidates.”