*Leonora Carey (FG).
LEONORA CAREY (FG) has secured a nomination to contest the Seanad Elections.
Her run for the Dáil in November was Leonora’s first bid for public office and she will back on the ballot at the end of this month for the Seanad elections on the Labour panel.
Clarecastle native Leonora spent four terms on the Fine Gael Executive Council and served as a campaign manager for Paschal Donohoe (FG).
Speaking to The Clare Echo following the General Election bid, she said of the experience, “I loved every minute of it” and “I don’t think it’s the end of Leonora Carey” which fuelled speculation that she would seek a Seanad nomination.
Carey remained tight-lipped over the last month when working to secure this nomination which brings to four the amount of Clare candidates in the race. Ennistymon duo, Senator Martin Conway (FG) and Ann Marie Flanagan (IND) are both in the running on the Administrative Panel where seven Senators will be elected, Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) was the first candidate to receive a nomination for the Industrial and Commercial Panel which will have nine Senators elected.
Nominations for the Seanad from external bodies closed on December 19th with Leonora receiving the nod from members of the Oireachtas. Eleven Senators will be elected from this panel. The Returning Officer published the entire list of nominated candidates across the five panels on Tuesday (December 31st).
On January 8th, the Returning Officer will complete the panels of candidates. Ballot papers for the election of the vocational panels will be issued on January 15th and polling for these panels will close at 11am on January 30th.
In the recent General Election, Carey polled 5,251 first preference votes. Her father Donal (FG) was first elected to the Dáil in 1982, he retained the seat for five subsequent campaigns until he lost out in 2002. Five years later, his son and Leonora’s brother Joe (FG) was elected and was a TD for four terms until announcing his retirement from politics on medical grounds in August.
Cllr John Crowe (FG) had attempted to secure a nomination for the Industrial and Commercial Panel but was unsuccessful in his efforts. Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) considered making a run for the Agricultural Panel but opted against doing so.
