Local elections in Offaly: Many familiar faces likely to be re-elected in Tullamore Electoral Area

As it stands, Fianna Fail have an overall majority on Tullamore Municipal District, with four seats out of a total of seven.

They are under some pressure in June's contest due to the retirement of veteran Killoughey based councillor, Danny Owens.

The three outgoing councillors – Tullamore based Declan Harvey, the serving Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District, and Tony McCormack and Clara's Frank Moran – are virtually certain to be re-elected.

Cloonagh based, Ollie Bryant, a newcomer, has a battle on his hands to secure a seat but with proper vote management, something Fianna Fail are past experts at, he should get over the line.

Fine Gael incumbent, Cllr Neil Feighery, is the party's sole standard bearer in the election and is a virtual certainty to be returned to the council.

He captured a massive 1224 first preference votes last time round in 2019 with the party taking over 22 per cent of the total vote.

Fine Gael have enough votes to return two councillors in the Tullamore area but despite much behind the scenes work by party activists they failed to persuade another candidate to stand.

Sinn Fein are running two candidates on this occasion, Aoife Masterson and Tim Farrell, and should capture at least one seat, judging by the party's standing in national opinion polls.

Aoife Masterson is the favourite of the two to be returned -despite this being her first time to put her name before the electorate she has ample behind the scenes experience as a policy adviser with Sinn Fein nationally.

Things can only get better this time round for the party as their vote collapsed in the 2019 election when the party's sole candidate captured just 287 first preference votes. In 2014, Brendan Killeavy topped the poll in the Tullamore area with a tally of 2,887 first preference votes.

There was some drama in the months leading up to the election when the party's second candidate in the area, Teresa Bracken pulled out of the race to be replaced on the ticket by Tim Farrell,

Veteran left-wing Independent candidate, Sean O'Brien, has put in a huge campaign and should be returned to the Aras an Chontae.

Tallies from the 2019 contest showed he attracted votes from all corners of the electoral area, both urban and rural.

He always secures a strong first preference vote and with no second or third Fine Gael candidate this time round he should attract second preferences from many Feighery supporters who feel they have nowhere else to turn.

Clara based Independent candidate, Sandy Feehan-Smollen, who was recently co-opted onto the council due to her husband, Ken's serious illness, is also in the reckoning for a seat.

Traditionally Clara has always returned two councillors and with no other candidate standing in the area, apart from Fanna Fail's Cllr Frank Moran who is certain to be elected, she should be returned to office.

The Green party's Liam Walsh has been campaigning on the highways and byways of the Tullamore area for the past number of months.

He is an able and articulate candidate but with the wind in the face of the Green party he will have a difficult task to gain a seat.

The Irish Freedom Party is running Moate based, Patrick Broder, who recently came to prominence from his starring role in Tullamore Amateur Dramatic Society's successful production “The Incarnation of the Prodigal Son”.

While all candidates report that immigration is an issue coming up on the doorsteps he faces an uphill battle to secure a set.

A latecomer to the race is Killurin based Independent candidate, Deirdre Dillon who is campaigning on a platform of integrity, fairness, justice and accountability.