Setback for Sinn Féin as Crowe loses out

SINN FÉIN’S ambitions of doubling its number of Dáil seats suffered a complete reverse yesterday, with the party actually losing one of the five seats it held in the 29th Dáil.

In one of the first shocks of the day, Sean Crowe lost his seat in Dublin South West in the face of a buoyant Fianna Fáil vote and the strong showing of Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes.

Mr Crowe, who topped the poll in 2002, was not expected to lose his seat. However, on a day when the smaller parties were squeezed by the two biggest party, his fate was typical of his colleagues within SF.