POLL: How local constituency candidates are faring as election day looms
FINE Gael is on course to top the poll in the European elections in this constituency with just two weeks to go before voters cast their ballots.
An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll of first preference votes published today shows Seán Kelly leading the way in the Ireland South constituency on 18%.
Below Kelly, Sinn Féin’s Liadh Ní Riada is on 14%, Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher is on 13%, while FG’s Deirdre Clune and FF’s Malcolm Byrne are on 10%.
Andrew Doyle, also running on the Fine Gael ticket, is on 9% while Independents4Change TD Mick Wallace is on 8%.
Kilkenny’s only candidate in the constituency, Independent councillor Brenda Gardner, came in a respectable 10th place in the poll in a very crowded field of 23 candidates with 2%.
But Cllr Gardner insisted she’s not bothered by the poll findings, which was conducted earlier this week on a sample of just 500 voters in each of the three constituencies.
She told KilkennyNow.ie: “I’m not worried about it, it doesn’t bother me at all. At the end of the day the only poll that matters is when people go out and cast their vote.
“I’m hearing it loud and clear on the campaign: people are very angry and frustrated with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and their pact – they’re not listening to the people and they’re more concerned about putting their own party interests above the people they’re supposed to represent.”
