THE Cork North West constituency could be in line for a political shake-up after it was confirmed that former Ireland South MEP Liadh Ní Riada is to contest the next general election for Sinn Féin.
The Coolea native and daughter of musician and composer Seán – who lost her seat in the European Elections in 2019 – has said it is a great honour for her to be selected to contest the next general election for Sinn Féin.
‘Winning a seat for Sinn Féin in this constituency will help to ensure that we are in government after the next election and that Mary Lou McDonald is our next Taoiseach,’ said Ms Ní Riada.
‘I look forward to challenging the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael dominance of Irish politics, and in Cork North West in particular. We have no female TD representing us in this constituency and that needs to be rectified.’
Ms Ní Riada also said that both rural and urban communities have suffered due to FF and FG policies and their approach. The mum-of-three, who is a native Irish speaker and a TV producer, was first elected as MEP for Ireland South in 2014 and sat on the EU Fisheries Committee while there.
However, she failed to retain her seat in the 2019 Euro elections, losing out to the Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan. She also ran unsuccessfully as a presidential elections candidate in 2018.
Sinn Féin had come in for criticism during last year’s general election for not running a candidate in Cork North West, which in the end returned two Fianna Fáil deputies, Andrias Moynihan and Michael Moynihan, and former Agriculture Minister Michael Creed for Fine Gael.
