FORMER Kerry TD and high-profile minister John O’Donoghue is preparing for a dramatic return to active politics, it is understood.
Senior Fianna Fail sources in Kerry have revealed that he has been nominated to contest the party convention for next May’s local elections in the new-look, six-seat Kenmare electoral area.
The 62-year-old, who lost his seat in the 2011 general election, was first elected to the Dáil – at the fourth attempt – in 1987 and served for 24 years.
He was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism before being appointed Ceann Comhairle in 2007. He resigned from that position two years later following a controversy over spending and expenses but he insisted at all times that he had done nothing wrong and had always acted in good faith.
Since his general election defeat eight years ago, when tensions heightened as his former party colleague Tom Fleming won on an Independent ticket, Mr O’Donoghue had always insisted that he wasn’t retired from politics and he later served as party PRO in South Kerry. He qualified as a barrister in 2014 and has a busy workload.
The father-of-three is not a regular at party meetings but he did attend the general election convention in Killarney last January when he was accompanied by his first cousin, Cllr Michael D O’Shea, an unsuccessful candidate in the selection process.
On that occasion party members opted to select sitting TD John Brassil with Cllr Norma Moriarty – O’Donoghue’s near neighbour from Waterville – later added to the ticket by FF headquarters.
The closing date for submissions to contest the local elections convention was last Friday and, in order to be included, Mr O’Donoghue needed the support of one cumann or five paid-up FF members.
If selected, the Caherciveen man will contest the new Kenmare electoral area which forms part of the current South and West Municipal District of Kerry County Council. There are already three sitting FF councillors in the area, Cllr Norma Moriarty, Cllr Michael Cahill and Cllr John Francis Flynn.
Efforts to contact Mr O’Donoghue for comment this Wednesday proved unsuccessful. Kerry FF constituency chairman, Christy O’Connell, said a clearer picture is likely to emerge in the coming days.
“Just because a person is nominated doesn’t mean that they will be standing. I don’t know – we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
The news of his return came as a bombshell to FF grassroots in Kerry who had thought that the Kenmare electoral area convention would be a foregone conclusion with three outgoing councillors all back in the race. The convention has been scheduled for November 1 but that date is not yer set in stone.
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