Constituency wrap: Cork East

FOR the first time since 1927, Fianna Fáil will not have a TD representing the Cork East constituency.

In 2007, Ned O’Keeffe and Michael Ahern received more than 20,000 votes between them.

This time Mr Ahern and Kevin O’Keeffe, running instead of his father, managed less than half those first preferences and suffered the consequences, with both of them being eliminated.

The writing was on the wall early on and, as predicted, Labour’s Seán Sherlock topped the poll taking a seat on the first count, closely followed by Fine Gael’s David Stanton, elected a couple of counts later.

Sinn Féin’s Sandra McLellan surprised even herself with a huge first preference vote and continued to get transfers until she passed the finishing line on the 7th count.

While she didn’t reach the quota, Fine Gael’s Tom Barry exceeded it and was also elected on the 7th count.