Ferris philosophical as campaign team decline to contest elimination

TOIRÉASA FERRIS was gracious in defeat after the surprise decision of her campaign team not to contest her elimination when she was just less than 700 votes behind Kathy Sinnott.

The Tralee-based councillor almost doubled the Sinn Féin vote to 13% since 2004 with her 64,671 first preferences on Friday, but bowed out after even her party machine failed to stop the transfer climb of Sinnott during the third to seventh counts.

“Obviously we were delighted with the vote, and for a while, we thought we were going to take the seat. The team were the ones who were here, I was banned from the place for whatever reason, and obviously they decided not to,” she said when asked why a recheck had not been sought.

Ms Ferris was almost inseparable from her 14-month-old daughter Liadain after the teatime announcement of the seventh count, with the toddler almost equally interested in the microphones being pushed in her mother’s direction.

“Liadain has been totally neglected by her mammy for the last few months and her daddy, Pa, has been doing a fantastic job. Without him I wouldn’t be able to run the campaign that we did.”

Her father, Martin Ferris TD, had been among the campaign team who made the decision a little earlier not to contest the elimination and explained their thinking afterwards.

“We spoke with Martin Harvey [Cork City Sheriff], we read the legislation and we consulted. We looked at the position: there was about 600 votes in favour of Kathy Sinnot – we weren’t going to call a recount just for the sake of a recount,” he said.

“You make a political judgment and ask if you are going to put people though another day and a night here for what would not make any difference,” Mr Ferris said.

Ms Ferris’s disappointment followed the loss of Sinn Féin’s only European seat in the Republic, after Mary Lou MacDonald was beaten by Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins in the Dublin count.

“Obviously we’re disappointed Mary Lou didn’t hold her seat. As far as Ireland South is concerned, we have nothing to be disappointed about. There was a huge vote for Sinn Féin, not just in the European elections, but in the locals as well,” she said.

“I would say to European candidates who have been elected that it sends a message about the type of Europe the people of Ireland South want to see, and that they need to recognise not just the vote here at the weekend, but also the vote on the Lisbon treaty last year,” she said.