Olympic medallist Kenneth Egan (32) has been unveiled as the newest election candidate for Fine Gael.

The Beijing silver-medallist is running in the local elections in May in his hometown of Clondalkin in west Dublin.

His running mate for the area is Councillor Emer Higgins, who is hoping to keep her seat on South-Dublin County Council.

Egan with his running mate, Councillor Emer Higgins

He joins 450 other local election candidates for the party across all counties.

Kenneth explained to Newstalk Lunchtime why he has decided to run as a councillor.

Main image: Kenneth Egan (right) with Minister Frances Fitzgerald