Cork South West Constituency

Area covered by the Cork South West Constituency

Advice clinics are held each weekend as advertised in the Southern Star.

The constituency boundary of Cork South West was revised very slightly prior to the 1997 General Election. There has been no change since 1997.

Although predominantly rural in character, there are several major towns in this constituency with 25% of the population living in Bandon, Bantry, Clonakilty, Kinsale and Skibbereen.

Agriculture dominates the local economy while the south west Atlantic coastline provides the region with a wide array of natural beauty spots which have been exploited by the local tourist industry. Other significant employers include Barryroe Co-op and Schering Plough based at Innishannon.

Cork South West has returned 2 Fine Gael, 1 Fianna Fáil at every election since 1981. The 1997 General Election proved no different as each of the sitting TDs retained their seats.

P.J. Sheehan topped the poll with 8,008 votes. His Bandon-based party colleague Jim O'Keeffe secured 7,454 votes but trailed Fianna Fáil TD Joe Walsh (the present Minister for Agriculture) by a small margin. However, with a lead of 1,373 votes, he easily withstood the challenge of the second Fianna Fáil candidate, Denis O'Donovan.

Both Labour and The Green Party saw a drop in their support, by 4.6% and 0.8% respectively. None of the other candidates made a significant impact.

In the May 2002 General Election Fianna Fail achieved an historic outcome winning two seats out of three for the first time, when Senator Denis O’Donovan joined the sitting T.D., Joe Walsh, while the long serving Fine Gael T.D., P.J. Sheehan lost out.

Cork South West Stats

Population: 62,678
Number of seats: 3
Population per TD: 20,893

Sitting TDs

FF - Joe Walsh
FF - Denis O'Donovan
FG - Jim O'Keefe

Local Bodies:

Cork County Council

Clonakilty Urban District Council

Kinsale Urban District Council

Skibbereen Urban District Council

Bandon Town Commission