Rugby player and radio DJ in the mix for Fine Gael's local election ticket

He has said that Fine Gael is aiming to add to its 255 seats at local level. 

That the party added 20 seats in 2019 just months before a general election where it lost 12 Dáil seats is something that many who attended the conference pointed to when faced with stagnant polling numbers.

New Fine Gael candidates

Among those who will join Fine Gael's ticket for the first time is Pierce Dargan from Glencullen-Sandyford. Mr Dargan is the founder and CEO of Equine MediRecord, an online app serving the equine industry and which has won a host of awards. He is also a former professional rugby player who played professional rugby in America.

Mr Dargan, 30, says that he is not from a political background, but was prompted to run for a number of reasons.

"I really believe for young people to engage more in politics, young candidates from all parties need to put their hands up to run to stimulate the debate in our age group, which is so important to keep our democracy healthy."

Joining Mr Dargan in a first-time run is Luke Corkery, who will run in the Swords area of Fingal County Council. 

Mr Corkery is 21 and hoping to take a seat that Fine Gael has not held since he was ten years old. He told The Irish Examiner that he believes there is a need for the Dublin suburb to have the "youth, energy and experience of being a commuter and prospective house-buyer" that he brings. He said that he was attracted to running because he "has always been a doer".

"I've always been involved in my own community and I do think there is an appetite for a bit of energy, a bit of youth. I do think that there are problems that we all share."

Mr Corkery said that the issue of housing is largely universal and that he wants to use his position within the party to help bring affordable homes to the town.

In Mayo, Alma Gallagher is looking to be the first woman elected in the Claremorris electoral ward. The Ballyhaunis woman is a manager with social housing association Clár ICH and said that her working experience had shown her that the housing crisis is not just in towns.

The change in the need has moved past just the cities. It's now in rural areas. We need more housing, but not just housing, services too.

The party is also set to run Galway radio star Ollie Turner. The Galway Bay FM host was one of the judges for the 2023 Rose of Tralee and was reportedly chased by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Varadkar said that 2024 "is an election year" but that his focus was on the local, European and Limerick mayoral elections. He said that Fine Gael was preparing for those elections and a general election before the presidential election in 2025.

Mr Varadkar said that the decision to call an election would be his as Taoiseach, but that he would discuss it with Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.

"I'm 20 years in politics as of this year, and have been in the Dáil for four terms and have been through a few elections. Sometimes elections happen on you, and sometimes you get to call them and it is, of course, the prerogative of the Taoiseach to seek a dissolution of the Dáil. But it's something that I haven't had any detailed discussions with the Tánaiste or Minister Ryan about at this stage. We will do that at some point, but that's not the focus at the moment. 

"The focus is on doing the work of government, on getting inflation down and helping people with the cost of living, it's on building lots of new homes, it's on keeping our economy strong so that people have jobs to go to and rising incomes. It's keeping our community safe and making sure that Ireland has influence in Europe and the world and that's what we're spending 99% of our time on at the moment."