'Honeymoon will have to wait', says newly-wed Ahern

Labour’s Ciaran Ahern with his wife Dr Maeve O’Rourke

Gabija Gataveckaite

A first-time general election candidate has had to postpone his honeymoon in order to run for a seat.

Labour hopeful in Dublin South West Ciaran Ahern got married on January 4 to RTE presenter Sean O'Rourke's daughter Dr Maeve O'Rourke, who is a human rights campaigner and lecturer at NUIG.

However, the happy couple, who live in Rathfarnham, had to delay all honeymoon plans.

Speaking to the Herald, Mr Ahern said they escaped to Waterford for four days shortly after the wedding for "a bit of a break".

He was asked by Labour to stand for a seat in the Dublin South West constituency as the party did not have a candidate there.

"We went away to Waterford for a few days for a bit of peace and quiet as I didn't know I was going to run before the wedding," Mr Ahern said.

He added that Labour approached him and asked him to run, but it wasn't confirmed until last week.

"They approached me and asked me to run. I'm still apprehensive about it. It's a very intimidating thing to do but I'm really enthusiastic," he added.

"It wasn't confirmed until last week. There's no plans for a honeymoon yet but this isn't a sad sob story.

Daunting

"We will go on a honeymoon after the election if there is a chance, but we might not get a chance. I was added to the ticket officially yesterday and we're just getting started now."

Mr Ahern, who is running for political office for the first time and is no relation to former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, said it feels "daunting".

"It feels daunting, I've been with Labour for many years and I've always thought about running," he said.