The Green Party’s Hazel Chu is considering a run in the upcoming bye election for the University of Dublin panel, the Irish Times reported this morning.
Chu, who is the current chair of the Green Party and the former Lord Mayor of Dublin, said she first wants to be sure the party is “aligned” on the issues.
Chu is not a Trinity graduate, but she could run if two of Trinity graduates nominate her and a further eight support the nomination.
According to the Irish Times, she will take the summer to consider the issues and consult the party leadership before making a final decision.
“I want to make sure that everyone is agreeable”, Chu told the Irish Times.
Chu ran in another Seanad bye election earlier this year as an independent candidate, against the wishes of party leader Eamon Ryan but with the support of deputy leader Catherine Martin.
She also put her name forward to be the Green candidate in the Dublin Bay South Dáil bye election, but Cllr Claire Byrne was ultimately chosen for the ticket.
The Seanad bye election, which is expected to take place before the end of the year, was triggered after former Trinity Senator Ivana Bacik was elected to the Dáil in the Dublin Bay South bye election last month.
Bacik topped the poll with 30 per cent of first-preference votes, running over 1,200 votes ahead of Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan, who finished in second place.
Graduate Students’ Union President Gisèle Scanlon confirmed to this newspaper last month that she would be contesting the election.
Former rugby international Hugo MacNeill also confirmed to The Times that he would be running.
The Irish Times also reported that disabilities campaigner Tom Clonan, a former army officer and lecturer in ethics at the School of Media at the Technological University of Dublin, will also contest the bye election. Labour party member Ursula Quill, a former parliamentary assistant to Ivana Bacik and to former Senator Seán Barrett, will also run.
Fine Gael has confirmed the party will not have run a candidate, but is expected to support MacNeill’s campaign.
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have said they will discuss the issue of a candidate in the coming months. The Social Democrats said “it is not up to political parties to field candidates in a Seanad bye election for a university seat”.
