Griffin grabs Sheahan’s seat while O’Donoughue bows out

A STUNNING poll-topping triumph by first-time Fine Gael candidate Brendan Griffin was the big story of the general election in the key Kerry South constituency, but his success came at the expense of his party colleague Tom Sheahan who was gutted to lose his seat.

A Fine Gael push to win an unprecedented two of the three seats on offer in the traditional Fianna Fáil stronghold fell just short with Sheahan edged out in a dramatic sixth and final count by Michael Healy-Rae who succeeds his father, Jackie, in the Dáil.

The other big winner in the Kerry South battleground was veteran Kerry County Council member Tom Fleming who dropped a bombshell when he severed his lifelong ties with Fianna Fáil to run as an independent, and his decision to do so cost former cabinet minister John O’Donoghue his seat.

But the 54-year-old former Ceann Comhairle insisted afterwards that he will not retire from politics and he stressed that his name is likely to be back on the ballot paper at the first available opportunity.

“I have contested 10 general elections and I have won six of them and lost four. Don’t bet against the score being 7-4,” he said.

An almost clean sweep of the available vote in the greater west Kerry area gave Brendan Griffin the platform from which to win a seat at the first time of asking and with 8,808 first preference votes he was more than 2,200 ahead of his nearest rival, Michael Healy-Rae, on the first count.

But a painstakingly protracted count process held in the Killarney Sports and Leisure Complex resulted in proceedings being adjourned shortly before midnight on Saturday and Mr Griffin’s supporters had to wait until lunchtime yesterday before he was finally declared elected.

The 27-year-old publican from Castlemaine attributed his success to his dedicated campaign team and his clever pledge to return half of his TD’s salary to the Exchequer obviously struck a chord with voters.

“We asked for change to give us hope and I will not let the people down,” Mr Griffin said.

“Ireland is at a crossroads and the future is very uncertain. It will take all of us working together with a constructive agenda to take on the long, hard road ahead of us,” he added.

Mr Griffin’s power-packed debut election performance carried a high price for his Fine Gael colleague, Rathmore-based Tom Sheahan, who was edged out in the sixth and final count, despite having a slightly better first preference showing than his successful first general election in 2007.

Not even favourable transfers from Labour’s Marie Moloney, Fianna Fáil’s John O’Donoghe and particularly Michael Gleeson of the South Kerry Independent Alliance, could squeeze Sheahan ahead of Healy-Rae or Fleming and his unexpected defeat left his supporters dazed.

“It’s a tough day, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.