James Cox
Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu has confirmed she is seeking the Green Party nomination for the Dublin Bay South by-election.
The Green Party Chairperson says she is running to ensure diversity on the ballot.
She recently had an unsuccessful and controversial bid for the Seanad by-election as an Independent candidate.
Ms Chu will not run as an Independent or with another party in the by-election, she will be competing with councillor Claire Byrne to be on the ticket for the Greens.
Criticism
Ms Chu says she's aware her decision to seek the Green Party's endorsement will invite criticism.
She told Newstalk: “There's always going to be criticism and there's always going to be commentary. I don't think anybody can ever run without someone giving out somewhere and in relation to the commentary about me running as an Independent 'against' my party, my party specifically came out after the Seanad issues and said: 'Listen, there was no candidate that was endorsed but we didn't turn anyone away either'.”
Ms Chu said she spoke to Green Party leader Eamon Ryan before throwing her hat in the ring to contest the by-election.
She said the party should nominate her because of her previous election performance.
“I took home over 4,000 votes in the 2019 local election so that's quite a lot with any constituency, even with the green wave having ebbed I know I can do well.”
Strong candidate
Mr Ryan says the party will have a strong candidate regardless.
“We have a longstanding tradition, since we've had leadership, that leaders never interfere in internal elections. You can't because you work with whoever the local group selects. I've worked with Claire for 15 plus years and I've worked with Hazel as well so I'm confident we'll have a very good candidate one way or the other.”
