Ahern defeat adds to FF’s local election woes

Bertie Ahern's older brother Maurice has suffered a second electoral blow after losing his seat on Dublin City Council.

Mr Ahern, who had been a representative in the Cabra-Glasnevin area since 1999, lost out by just 13 votes to Sinn Féin's Seamus McGrattan after the ninth county last night.

He also lost out in his bid for a Dáil seat in Friday's Dublin Central by-election, finishing fifth with just 12.3% of the vote.

Mr Ahern's defeat was one of several for Fianna Fáil in local elections across the country.

With 848 of the 883 seats filled, Fianna Fáil had 208, compared to 325 for Fine Gael, which is the now the largest party in county and city councils for the first time in the history of the State.

The Labour Party has won 129 seats and is the largest party in Dublin city, while Sinn Féin has secured 52 seats nationwide.

The big story, however, is the Green Party, which has been virtually wiped out at local level.

The Greens have seen their total number of seats fall from 17 to just three and have lost every one of their council seats in Dublin.

Local election 2009 seats National summary (2004 seats in brackets):

Total number of seats – 883

Fianna Fáil (302) – 208

Fine Gael (297) – 325

Green Party (17) – 3

Labour (101) – 129

Others (115) – 131

Sinn Féin (54) – 52