Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: We will have better days

After three days of counting, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin broke down in tears as he realised he would not be returning to Leinster House.

The drugs minister lost his seat in Dublin Bay North after a prolonged count in the RDS. The loss means the Labour Party are now facing the wider implication of losing speaking rights in the Dáil.

Their only hope of achieving the minimum quota of seven elected members to retain funding and speaking time rests with Willie Penrose in Longford-Westmeath, where a recount was ongoing last night.

“It feels very raw now and it’s pretty personally difficult to put my thoughts together as to what happens next for myself, I got involved in politics for certain agendas and certain principals,”said a teary Mr Ó Ríordáin after the returning officer put an end to his time in national politics.

“It hasn’t been my day today; it hasn’t been the Labour Party’s election so we will see what happens next.”

As he spoke, a celebratory chorus of “Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile” rang out from Denise Mitchell’s supporters.

Mr Ó Ríordáin was eliminated on the 15th count and in doing so became the 26th Labour member to lose their seat in what has been a devastating election for the party.

Speaking after the result, Mr Ó Ríordáin said he was “immensely proud” of his team of supporters but that “the tide was out” for his party.

“People made a very clear decision that they didn’t want this government returned,” he said.

“I don’t know what decision they have made in terms of what government they want. Normally in elections people make two decisions: They say I don’t want this government, I want a different one.

“I don’t think it’s clear from the election as to what is going to happen next.

“We took on challenges that were not popular — things like drug reform, Traveller rights, working to try and change the direct provision system. I wouldn’t spend any less time on those things if I did again.”

Mr Ó Ríordáin said: “Today is the first day of the comeback. Ireland needs the Labour Party and our value system. I absolutely believe we will recover from this and we will have better days again.”

Labour deputy leader Alan Kelly had arrived at the count centre shortly before the results were announced in the morning, but left before the announcement was made.

Independents Tommy Broughan and Finian McGrath, and Sinn Féin’s Denise Mitchell took the final three seats in the “constituency of death”.

Richard Bruton (FG) had topped the poll in the five-seat constituency while Sean Haughey (FF) came in second.

Meanwhile, in the Longford-Westmeath constituency there were just four votes between Mr Penrose and Fine Gael’s James Bannon as the ballots were recounted.

It was the only constituency still carrying out a count.

Outgoing Fine Gael TD James Bannon had requested a full recount after the initial count put just two votes between him and Mr Penrose.

Fine Gael’s Peter Burke and Sinn Féin’s Paul Hogan are also battling it out for the remaining two seats.

Earlier in the day, Bríd Smith of the Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit group was elected to the final seat in Dublin South Central.

Her win means the AAA-PBP now have the same number of elected TDs as the Labour Party.

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