STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Fine Gael candidates Thomasina Connell and then Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan TD at the Laois General Election count in St. Mary's Hall, Portlaoise in 2016. Pic: Alf Harvey/HRPhoto.ie
A general election former running mate of Charlie Flanagan is to enter the contest to replace him as Fine Gael's Laois representative in the Dáil.
Portlaoise Municipal District Cllr Thomasina Connell declared her intentions in reply to a query from the Leinster Express / Laois Live.
"It will be up to the Fine Gael members in Laois as to who they choose to be their candidate in the next General Election but I will certainly be allowing my name go forward to selection convention," she said.
Cllr Connell contested the 2016 General Election when Laois was a three-seat constituency. She polled a creditable 4,233 votes in a field of just six candidates. She came fourth behind Sean Fleming, Brian Stanley and Charlie Flanagan.
A first-time candidate in any election at the time, Cllr Connell targetted votes in Kildare as Monasterevin and surrounds were included in Laois for the election. She set up an office in Monasterevin during the campaign.
Cllr Connell hails from Ballybrittas which is not far from the Kildare border but now lives and works in Portlaoise where she set up a practice as a solicitor. She represents the Portlaoise Municipal District and served as Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council for the year 2022/23.
Her home area was removed from Laois Offaly at the 2020 general election.
Cllr Connell won the seventh and final seat in the Portlaoise area when she was elected to the council in 2019 on her first attempt. She polled 437 and was returned on the 14th count.
She claims to be a strong voice for the local business community and was awarded the prestigious title of Laois Business Woman of the Year 2018.
Cllr Connell was the first councillor in Ireland to benefit from the Maternity Protection and Other Measures for Elected Members in Local Authorities Bill 2022, when she had her first child, Thomas Norman, with her partner Tristan Lynas, on December 2022.
The legislation was passed just days after Cllr Connell had her child.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
