The women of Waterford are set to make their mark on June 11th in a county in which men have dominated politics.
Waterford County Council has just one woman member - its chairwoman, Ms Nora Flynn - while the city has not had a woman councillor for more than 40 years. But this time there are a number of women candidates in with a fighting chance of taking seats.
In the county election, Fine Gael candidate Ms Lola O'Sullivan, a well-known community activist in her late 20s, is well placed to take one of the six available seats. She may be joined by Ms Betty Twomey, who had secured a Fine Gael nomination for the election but resigned after a dispute with the party and is now running as an independent. Ms Mary Greene, who is running for Fine Gael in the newly-created Suir district, faces a battle with Fianna Fail's Mr Michael O'Brien for the last of the three seats, while Ms Flynn is a safe bet to hold her seat in Lismore.
In Dungarvan, Fianna Fail's Ms Nuala Ryan has an outside chance, but she has not been helped by her party's difficult run-up to the campaign, which has been dogged by internal squabbling - some of it played out in public - over the nomination process.
Ms Ryan herself was at the centre of one row when the national executive first refused to ratify her candidacy but subsequently added her to what appears to be an overcrowded and, in geographical terms, lopsided ticket. The party now has six candidates chasing seven seats in Dungarvan, a Labour stronghold where that party has three sitting councillors.
The most dominant issue of the campaign is to be found in the Kilmacthomas area, where the county council has identified two possible sites for a major landfill to cater for the city and county's waste disposal needs for the next 25 years. Here again the odds seem to favour Fine Gael, which recently added a prominent anti-dump campaigner, Mr Eddie Rockett, to its ticket.
Fianna Fail has not been without its problems in Waterford city either. Mr Sean Rohan, the founding chairman of Waterford Ogra Fianna Fail, is likely to top the poll in ward two, where he is running as an independent. Mr Rohan had been unanimously selected to run for Fianna Fail but withdrew his name from the ticket on being asked to go before a vetting committee. Two of the city council's most prominent members, the Mayor, Mr Brian Swift, and former Dail deputy Mr Paddy Gallagher are retiring.
