*Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) is lifted shoulder high following his success in the local elections in June. Photograph: Joe Buckley.
FINE GAEL have been dealt a setback in Clare after Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) has turned down an offer to run for the party in the General Election.
Party supporters had received a major lift late last week when it emerged that Cllr Cooney an excellent performer when it comes to elections was strongly considering and putting plans in place to launch a bid for the Dáil, however he has confirmed he has opted against contesting the upcoming General Election.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cooney confirmed that after considering an approach from An Taoiseach Simon Harris (FG) and party headquarters that he will not be allowing his name forward as a second Fine Gael candidate in Clare.
Work was ongoing behind the scenes across the weekend as the O’Callaghans Mills man prepared to launch an election bid. A former Chairman of Clare GAA, he was present at a number of events including the Clare SHC and Clare SFC finals plus the reopening of Clare GAA’s headquarters in Clareabbey along with several politicians.
When questioned on the speculation in Clareabbey on Saturday, Cllr Cooney told The Clare Echo he was neither in or out of the race.
However, speaking to The Clare Echo on Tuesday evening, the former Mayor of Clare confirmed that his name would not appear on the ballot paper. “I was really never standing, I gave it consideration and I came to the conclusion of no, I gave it good consideration and I’ve decided not to stand over the weekend after giving it plenty of thought”.
To be approached by the Taoiseach was a sign of the esteem with which Cllr Cooney is held within the party. “It felt fantastic to be put into the equation but you have to give everything consideration and I am really enjoying my role on Clare County Council. If it was ten or fifteen years ago I might have looked at the approach in a different manner”.
“Nothing put me off running, it is a big change at this stage in my life and after twenty years on Clare County Council, I just felt it would have been too big a change at this stage in my life,” he added.
Cooney’s potential entry into the race had lifted the spirits of Blueshirts in the county who will now experience a feeling of deflation with his absence from the ticket, considering political pundits were touting him as a potential poll-topper.
Adding a second candidate would be welcomed, Cllr Cooney told The Clare Echo. “If there is a second candidate then I think they should add another one but that is up to the powers that be to make up their mind on that”.
An elected member of Clare County Council since 2004, Cooney has delivered poll-topping performances in 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 where he was elected on the first count. This June he received 2,819 first preferences in the Killaloe Municipal District, up on the 2,697 he received in 2019 and the 2,790 of 2009 but it didn’t eclipse his personal best of 2,843 in 2014. Such is his ability to hoover up votes, he has been dubbed ‘the dyson’.
Presently, Leonora Carey (FG) is the only confirmed Fine Gael candidate, The Clare Echo understands that the Carey family are anxious that the party only fields one candidate in the county with party activists keen that a second representative be added to the mix.
