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.