Constituency Profile:
The constituency of Dublin Central is made up of the city area north of the river Liffey from the docklands in the east to include the Phoenix Park in the west and includes the more suburban areas of Phibsboro, Cabra, Drumcondra and Glasnevin to the north.
The social make-up of this constituency has changed somewhat in recent years, with many traditional working class areas, such as Smithfield, now including apartment blocks for the area’s many young professionals.
It now has much higher levels of educational attainment than the national average, for example, but there are still areas of real social deprivation in the inner city.
The constituency is one of the state’s most diverse, with just 70% of inhabitants describing themselves as White Irish in Census 2006, when the population stood at 104,674.
The constituency includes the city’s main shopping districts and the financial services sector.
Constituency Boundaries: There have been no changes since 2007.
Seats: Four
2007 Quota: 6,928
2011 Candidates
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Cyprian Brady - Fianna Fáil
Contesting his first ever election in 2007, Cyprian Brady was elected to the Dáil, winning just 939 first preference votes. His election was secured when he attracted a massive transfer from then party leader and Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.
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Christy Burke - Independent
Christy Burke is an Independent member of Dublin City Council. Burke has previously contested seven Dáil elections as a Sinn Féin candidate in the Dublin Central constituency. He left Sinn Féin in June 2009 claiming the party had lost its relevance.
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Aine Clancy - Labour Party
Aine Clancy was Elected a Councillor in the 2009 local elections. Clancy is a first-time Dáil candidate.
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Benny Cooney - Independent
Benny Cooney is running as an Independent candidate.
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Joe Costello - Labour Party
Joe Costello was first elected to the Dáil in 1992. Costello lost his seat in 1997, but regained it in 2002. Re-elected again in 2007, he is currently the Labour Party Spokesperson on Transport.
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Paschal Donohue - Fine Gael
Paschal Donohoe was elected to the Seanad in 2007. Donohoe has unsuccessfully contested one general election and one by-election in Dublin Central. Jim Mitchell previously held a seat for Fine Gael in this constituency.
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Mary Fitzpatrick - Fianna Fáil
Mary Fitzpatrick is a daughter of former TD, Dr. Dermot Fitzpatrick, she contested her first Dáil election in 2007, failing to win a seat. Following the 2009 local elections, Fitzpatrick was left as the only Fianna Fáil Councillor in Dublin Central.
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Thomas Hollywood - Independent
Thomas Hollywood is running as an Independent candidate.
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John Pluto Hyland - Independent
Educated in Canada, where he lived for many years, Hyland is a first-time election candidate. His campaign slogan is: 'You're ballot is your bullet. Shoot this dog of a government.'
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Liam Johnston - Fís Nua
Although standing as an Independent candidate, Liam Johnston is member of Fís Nua, which officially registered as a political party on 4 February. He is a first-time Dáil candidate.
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Phil Kearney - Green Party
Although he first contested a local election in 1985, this is Phil Kearney's first time to run for the Dáil. He is a member of the Green Party's National Executive Committee.
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Mary Lou McDonald - Sinn Féin
Mary Lou McDonald is a former MEP for Dublin, she has twice failed to win election to the Dáil. Contesting the constituency of Dublin West in 2002, her move to Dublin Central for the 2007 general election resulted in a fall in the Sinn Féin vote. She is currently party Vice-President.
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Paul O'Loughlin - Christian Solidarity Party
Paul O'Loughlin unsuccessfully contested the 2002 and 2007 general elections, and the 2009 by-election, in the Dublin Central constituency. On each occasion, he stood as a candidate for the Christian Solidarity Party.
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Maureen O'Sullivan - Independent
Maureen O'Sullivan was elected to the Dáil in a June 2009 by-election caused by the death of Tony Gregory. O'Sullivan had previously worked as an election agent for Gregory, who had been an Independent TD for Dublin Central since 1982.
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Malachy Steenson - Workers Party
Malachy Steenson is a solicitor and community activist. Steenson stood in the Dublin Central by-election of June 2009, polling 519 votes.
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Cieren Perry - Independent
Cieren Perry, a community activist, was elected to Dublin City Council in 2009 as an indpendent councillor. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2007 election.
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Sitting TDs: Bertie Ahern (FF), Joe Costello (Lab), Cyprian Brady (FF), Maureen O’Sullivan (Ind)
Note: Maureen O’Sullivan won the June 2009 by-election occasioned by the death of Tony Gregory, who had been elected as an Independent in 2007.
TDs not seeking re-election: Bertie Ahern (FF)
Sean Donnelly's Analysis:
The scene of the 'Lazarus' type recovery by Cyprian Brady in 2007 when he managed to go from ninth place on the first count with a mere 939 first preferences to winning the final seat with the help of a large transfer from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Ahern will be missing from the ballot paper for the first time since 1977 and without his mentor Brady is unlikely to survive with Mary Fitzpatrick more likely to be the main Fianna Fáil contender. Labour’s Joe Costello is likely to top the poll and his challenge is to bring in running mate Aine Clancy. He will be followed home by Senator Paschal Donohoe who will likely regain the Fine Gael seat previously held by the late Jim Mitchell. Maureen O’Sullivan won the 2009 by-election following the death of long serving independent deputy Tony Gregory and should retain her seat. Mary Lou McDonald failed to win a seat here in 2007 but should improve on the 9% achieved then. Thus this constituency will come down to a battle for the final seat between Fitzpatrick, Clancy and McDonald.
Sean Donnelly's Prediction:
Prediction: 1FG, 1LB, 1SF, 1NP. (Joe Costello LB, Paschal Donohoe FG, Maureen O’Sullivan, Mary Lou McDonald SF). FG & SF Gains from FF.
2007 General Election:
Fianna Fáil improved their first-preference vote significantly in 2007, up to 44.5% from 39.6%, but almost all of this was taken by Bertie Ahern, who was elected on the first count having almost doubled the quota with 12,734 votes (36.8%).
Mary Fitzpatrick was well behind her party leader on 5%, but well ahead of Cyprian Brady on 2.7%.
Independent TD Tony Gregory and Labour's Joe Costello polled 13.4% and 12.6% of the first preferences respectively to put themselves in strong positions to eventually take the second and third seats.
The distribution of Bertie Ahern’s massive surplus of 5,806 on count two effectively decided the election.
Cyprian Brady, who polled a mere 939 first preferences, took 2,403 of the available transfers, taking him past Mary Fitzpatrick, who took just 1,362, and allowing him to benefit from her transfers when she was excluded after the fifth count.
These in turn took him past Pascal Donohue of Fine Gael and Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin and actually reduced their respective parties’ vote shares since 2002.
With Tony Gregory passing the quota on count six, the final two seats were filled when Mary Lou McDonald was excluded after count seven.
Joe Costello took the third seat and was joined by Cyprian Brady, who finished with 6,348 votes, almost 2,000 votes ahead of Pascal Donohue. Mr Brady had climbed from just 939 votes on the first count.
2002 Turnout: 55.5%
2007 Turnout: 55.4%
Oireachtas Constituency Information
Twitter hashtag: #dubc
