D-Day for Seanad hopefuls
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will then consider his 11 nominees to complete the 60-seat upper house of parliament for the coming term.
Last night former Dublin Labour TD Derek McDowell looked certain to be elected to the Senate but defeated FG Cork South Central TD Deirdre Clune appeared unlikely to succeed.
Former junior minister Tom Moffatt from Mayo was also in difficulty, as was former Waterford FF TD Brendan Kenneally. However, it appeared likely Mark MacSharry, son of an ex-EU Commissioner, was set to be elected along with Galway Senator Margaret Cox.
Fine Gael Senators Helen Keogh and Mary Jackman did not look like retaining their seats. But Killarney-based Senator Paul Coghlan polled extremely well and had a good chance of keeping his seat.
Mr Ahern already faces pressure to include Cork-based disabled rights campaigner Kathy Sinnott among his nominees. Ms Sinnott, who failed by just six votes to take a Dáil seat in May, again narrowly failed to take a Seanad seat.
So far the election has seen the return of several defeated TDs, including Fine Gael’s former Cork East deputy, Paul Bradford, and Jim Higgins of Mayo.
The three seats each reserved for the National University of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin were all filled by yesterday. TCD Senator Mary Henry was re-elected on the 10th count, polling 3,259 votes, 879 ahead of nearest rival Ms Ivana Bacik.
There were reports that Ms Bacik was considering a formal complaint because the 2000 register of TCD graduates, who are the voters, was used rather than the most recent register of 2001. The other two outgoing TCD Senators, David Norris and Shane Ross, had been re-elected on Wednesday.
The three NUI seats have also been filled with independent Senators Fergal Quinn, Joe O’Toole and Labour’s unsuccessful Dáil candidate Brendan Ryan all returning to the upper house. They had faced stern competition from Ms Bernadine O’Sullivan and first-time candidate Ms Valerie Bresnihan.
Counting of the Industrial and Commercial panel’s nine seats was set for completion last night and the scrutiny of the final Administrative Panel will begin this morning and could be completed by late this evening. Mr Ahern will then come under enormous pressure once the counting is completed, the more so as four of his 11 nominations under the Constitution are earmarked for the Progressive Democrats.
