Councillor Ciarán Ahern launched his general election campaign recently, in an event attended by Labour Party Leader Ivana Bacik T.D., former Labour Party leader, Minister, and TD for Dublin South West Pat Rabbitte, former Minister and TD for Dublin South Alex White SC, and dozens of supporters from across Dublin South-West.
Ahern is a labour law solicitor and represents Rathfarnham-Templeogue on South Dublin County Council. He was elected to this position in June 2024 alongside fellow Labour councillor Pamela Kearns, who together earned nearly 28% of their area’s first-preference votes. This was one of the Labour Party’s strongest showings nationally in the most recent elections.
In his speech to supporters, Ahern shared his vision for the campaign and for Dublin South-West “People are open to new faces, new leadership, new ideas. They see a government that has run out of big ideas. They see a budget that is blatantly trying to buy short term votes at the cost of long term thinking. They see waste in our public services and procurement processes, they see a Taoiseach who’s big on promises and PR, but low on follow up. They see bike lanes, but no offshore wind farms. They see a country that’s incredibly wealthy on paper, but they don’t feel it in their pocket or experience it in our public services – whether they’re waiting on a hospital appointment or on a bus that doesn’t come.
This election is about ideas and vision for the future of our country. We in Labour want to see the State do more – we want to harness the power of the State to deliver affordable housing to a generation who are still living at home, to provide modern, effective, reliable public transport, to ensure parents can access and afford childcare, to ensure children can access healthcare and additional needs supports when they need them, to ensure that we become a net exporter of renewable energy and meet the ambitious and vital climate targets that have been set.”
Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said “We’re delighted to have Ciarán represent us in Dublin South-West for this upcoming election. Ciarán is a devoted and dedicated community volunteer, activist, and county councillor, with a strong background in the law, and I’m looking forward to seeing him take on the challenges of national politics.
I look forward to campaigning alongside him, both during the election and in Leinster House, for an Ireland that works for all.”
