From the 2007 GEneral Election, Cork East Green Party candidate Sarah Iremonger.
Sarah Iremonger is a founder member of the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, She (along with many other Greens) is also ‘active on … the Anti Incinerator campaign…’
Sarah Iremonger polled over 1500 votes but failed to win a seat.
So Kenny Egan has finally taken the plunge and announced that hes running for Fine Gael in the Local Elections. I thought I’d update this post on celebrity candidates. There have been quite a number of candidates with public profiles before they ran for election. Some with success, others with a total lack of success.
There are those who were Celebrities or well known to the public prior to going for election.
Amongst those from Television and stage came Orla Guerin , Frank McNamara, Pat Cox, Mairead McGuinness, Jeananne Crowley, Donagh MacCarthy-Morrough, Ted Nealon ,former RTE reporter Mary McAleese and of course George Lee. There were singers too like Dana , Sonny Knowles ran for Fianna Fail , as did TR Dallas (Tom Allen). Of these Cox, McGuinness, Dana, Nealon, Allen and Lee had success at the polls
From Sport came such GAA men as Barney Rock, Seán Flanagan, Tommy Murphy, Jack Lynch, John Doyle, Seamus Kirk, Paddy Lalor, John O’Leary, Michael Donnellan, Graham Geraghty, Tony Dempsey , ex GAA president Sean Kelly , John O’Mahoney , Kerry legends Mick O’Connell, Joe Keohane and Jimmy Deenihan. Rugby gave amongst others Dick Spring , Gerry ‘Ginger’ McLoughlin and Jim Glennon.
From other walks of life came Eamon McCann, Christine Buckley, , Tom Parlon , Shane Ross, Fergal Quinn, Colm McEochaidh, Geraldine Kennedy, Brody Sweeney, Mick Wallace,
, Adi Roche, Nuala Fennell, Colm O’Gorman, Mannix Flynn, Olive Braiden and Ivana Bacik. Of these Parlon, Kennedy, Flynn, Wallace, Fennell, Ross and Quinn all had success
There are those that become Celebrities partly from Politics
The likes of Jackie Healy Rae , Richard Boyd-Barrett , David Norris , Luke ‘Ming’ Flanaghan and the Late Bernie Murphy.
Those that became more well known in the media after political careers or election attempts
Such as Noel Whelan and Ivan Yates
The Judiciary is another area with a lot of ex politicians or election candidates,
Judge Henry Abbot, Michael White, Adrian Hardiman, George Bermingham, Pat McCartan , Seamus Hughes
There are candidates too that gain national prominence for a small time because of their posters.
Recent examples would include John Brackenand Clifford T Reid.
Kenny Egan is by no means the first and will by no means be the last ‘Celebrity Candidate’. Celebrity does not mean electoral success either. Oh and here he is on the front of a Fianna Fail newsletter…..
On the other side its rare enough that you will have Celebrities endorsing Politicians or Parties here. Duncan Stewart has done some work with the Greens.
Here John Stafford is endorsed by such luminaries as Dickie Rock and Barney McKenna. Whilst here John Colgan has a picture of himself with Esther Rantzen.
In the 2010 UK election each party had Celebrity backers.
For instance from Coronation Street Vera Duckworth and Ken Barlow backed different parties.
Labour had a leaflet with endorsements from amongst others Alex Ferguson, Ross Kemp, Eddie Izzard, JK Rowling and Patrick Stewart.
From the 2009 Dublin South By Election. A larger version George Lee election flyer. Contains a now Brilliant message from Enda Kenny.
George Enda writes “…..has a proven and outstanding economic ability, a willingness to stand up to vested interests…” (Vested interests Like top FG people trying to keep their own patches?)
A Longer message from George Lee and lovely picture where Olivia Mitchell and Alan Shatter ‘endorse’ Goeorge Lee.
This time with a longer message from George Lee and also a longer message from Enda Kenny.
George Lee having resigned as RTEs economics correspondent was a huge capture for Fine Gael. He topped the poll and got in on the first count.
He resigned his seat on the 8th of February 2010, less than a year after his election.
(A rundown of Irish Celebrity candidates with their flyers)
George Lees election flyer.
From the 2009 Dublin South by-election Fine Gael poll topper George Lee. Lee at the time RTEs economics correspondent was a huge capture for Fine Gael.
I wonder would Enda be as enthused now? I always felt that Alan Shatter and Olivia Mitchell were grimmacing in the photo with George.
(Amongst other ‘celebrity’ candidates posted to date are Frank Mc Namara, Jeananne Crowley , Geraldine Kennedy and Orla Guerin)
Firstly Thanks to the donor. (This is the first of two Independent Socialist Party Leaflets I’ll be posting )
“Join the Independent Socialist Party” with details of the party’s aims, a piece on Socialism in Ireland and the directions it has taken since 1968 and also membership details on the back.
The Contact details for the Independent Socialist Party are ‘The Five Eighth Bookshop’ which was a small bookshop run by Johnny White.
What else I know is that The Independent Socialist Party was shortlived (1976 to 1978) and came from a split with the IRSP. I’d assume this leaflet is from 1976.
Wikipedia states…
The Independent Socialist Party was a far left political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1976 as a split from the Irish Republican Socialist Party named the Irish Committee for a Socialist Programme, calling for more prominent socialist politics and less emphasis on paramilitary activity. The following year, it renamed itself the “Independent Socialist Party” and was joined by former UK Member of Parliament Bernadette McAliskey.
The party entered discussions with the Socialist Workers’ Movement (SWM), with the aim of forming a joint organisation, but the SWM chose instead to join the Socialist Labour Party in 1978. As a result, the Independent Socialist Party decided to disband.
You will also find some more information here.
An election flyer from The Labour Party in the 1992 General Election Campaign. With Dick Spring so popular the slogan is smaller and the picture of Dick dominates the page.
Looking back quite a few of the aims were done between 1992 and 1997.
From 1997. The Democratic Lefts Eamon Gilmore sends out a detailed leaflet about the 1997 Budget.
It’s interesting to look the tax allowances, tax rates, mortgage interest relief of the time. Also covered are the PRSI/Levies , various Social Welfare rates, Education and Health schemes.
Fianna Fail candidate Noreen Ryan from the 2007 General Election in Limerick East.
Despite Fianna Fail getting the bones of three quotas, the fact that Willie O’Dea got over 2 quotas meant that they only won the two seats and Noreen Ryan lost out.
Very clever electioneering by Lucinda Creighton of Fine Gael in the 2007 General Election in Dublin South East.
A Beer mat with a play on a common drink related slogan.
Another Election related Beer Mat posted here
Fine Gaels Eddie Collins and Austin Deasy from the 1987 General Election in Waterford.
Having been first elected in 1969, Eddie Collins lost his seat in this election.
Austin Deasy, Father of John Deasy, was first elected in 1977 and served until 2002. He served as Minister for Agriculture from 1982 to 1987. He was behind attempts to remove both Alan Dukes and later John Bruton as Leaders of Fine Gael.
How many of the Factories listed as having Increased Government Grants still survive today?
From the 2007 General Election, Eoin Tierney in Dublin South East where he received 102 votes.
(Thanks to the candidate for sending me this)
Pics (not the greatest quality) kindly sent in by a donor
From the 1968 Referendum on Change in Voting System, two Labour Party ‘Vote No’ Posters
‘The Straight Vote is Crooked’ Vote NO!
Fianna Fail proposed changing the voting system to that similar to the UK
The Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1968, proposes
To substitute for the present system of voting at Dáil elections the “straight vote” system in single-member constituencies;
To establish a Commission to determine constituencies, subject to the right of the Dáil to amend the constituencies as so determined; and
To provide that whenever the Dáil is dissolved the outgoing Ceann Comhairle may be returned, without a contest, as a second deputy for a constituency chosen by him which consists of, or includes a part of, the constituency he represented before the dissolution.
Independent candidate Dean O’Nualláin from the 1997 General Election in Dublin South Central. He received 80 votes.
With all the immigrants coming into the country he wanted Dubliners to be a higher priority than them.
The Now BBC journalist Orla Guerin from the 1994 European Elections in Dublin. Orla Guerin had been a journalist with RTE and was a national name.
She was added to the Labour Party ticket after the selection convention had selected The sitting MEP Bernie Malone, who had been co-opted to replace Barry Desmond.
Many within the party felt that Malone may struggle to hold on to the seat, especially under pressure from The Democratic Left and The Workers Party.
There was a great rivalry between Malone and Guerin and it added to the campaign.
In the end Bernie Malone won a seat, although Orla Guerin polled well.
Just posting this message from Garret Fitzgerald, to illustrate the state of the Country in the Feb 1982 election.
The Tax Reform League candidate, Mairead Duchon from the 1987 General Election in Dublin South.
The Tax Reform League stood in the 1987 General Election (I’m not sure if they were a registered party). Aside from Mairead Duchon, who got 1253 votes, they fielded at least 3 other candidates.
Camella Cummins stood in Meath getting 636 votes.
Timothy Cahill stood in Dublin South Central and got 711 votes.
Patrick McKiernan stood in Cavan-Monaghan getting 1,868 votes.
The Late Tomás MacGiolla from the 1994 European Elections. Although not winning a seat, he polled respectably.
This is a freesheet given out during the campaign. It highlights The Workers Party policy on the EU. From the paper you can see how proud Tomás MacGiolla was to have been Lord Mayor of Dublin . The issues of the day both European and domestic are shown too. The real isssue though was jobs….
Click on an image to enlarge it.
From Democratic Left in the 1994 European Elections in Dublin…. A Question asked by many over the years about Pat Rabbitte (and many others) ‘What does he want..?’
Prionsias De Rossa had won a seat for The Workers Party in Dublin in 1989. Following the Workers Party Split, De Rossa stepped down and the Democratic Lefts Des Geraghty was co-opted and served from 1992 to 1994 as an MEP. Despite Geraghty being the outgoing MEP, Pat Rabbitte stood in 1994.
The DL were very fond of quotes from newspapers (as The Greens used to be too). Rabbitte bemoans the lack of EU money for Dublin and the amount of funds going to farmers.
Rabbitte failed to win a seat. (result at electionsireland.org)
Irish Election Literature 
Recent Comments