Former TD Gino Kenny joins South Dublin County Council after Darragh Adelaide steps down
People Before Profit councillor Darragh Adelaide has stepped down from his role for “personal reasons”, and will be replaced by former TD Gino Kenny in South Dublin County Council (SDCC) this April.
“It came out of the blue and I’m not celebrating because of the circumstances – but Darragh stepped down and that was his choice,” said Mr Kenny, who will represent Clondalkin in the local authority.
Mr Kenny, has previously been elected into the council between 2009 to 2016. In 2016, he served as a TD for Dublin Mid-West before he lost his seat in the 2024 general election.
“It’s just over ten years since I left SDCC. I’ve had over a year since the general election, I was disappointed but I got on well. I didn’t plan or expect to go back into electoral politics, that was not on my radar,” he said.
He said he hopes to revisit some issues like housing, drug reform and rent control when he is back in the council.
“Some of the issues are essentially the same – I will be look at housing and public services in the area,” he told the Irish Independent.
"There’s a big issue coming up in the next few months with council rents and that’s going to be big in the October budget – almost 80pc of the calls I get have to do with housing, so that will be important.
“I will also bring up some of the same things I brought up on a national level like drug reform and work towards that.”
Mr Kenny said he hoped to continue the “extraordinary work” that Mr Adelaide had done in the council.
“He has done extraordinary work around anti-racism over the last two years and I hope to continue in the same vein in terms of that anti-racism work and dispelling some of the misinformation,” he said.
“Bad actors are trying to stoke up division and hatred in our community and that’s extremely important to challenge – I’ll be continuing the same work Darragh is doing around anti-racism.
“It’s a privileged position to be able to represent the area you live in and the ordinary people who live in the county.”
In an online statement, People Before Profit said that Darragh Adelaide had resigned from the role for personal reasons.
“Darragh has been an exemplary councillor. He has represented and fought for his constituents and for working class people across SDCC,” it said.
"He has also played a central role in standing up to racism and the far right and building a vibrant antiracist movement in Dublin and beyond.
“People Before Profit has selected Gino Kenny to replace Darragh on SDCC. We are delighted that Gino has accepted this nomination.
"We know he will work to represent the people of Clondalkin and will work with our other councillors on SDCC to ensure that there is a voice for radical change on the Council."