New TDs take up their seats in the Dáil

The country's two new TDs have taken up their seats in the Dáil.

Fine Gael's George Lee was welcomed through the gates of Leinster House this lunchtime by a flurry of media and a line out of the party's sitting representatives.

It follows his landslide victory in the Dublin South by-election at the weekend.

The Dáil's other new deputy, Independent Maureen O'Sullivan, who is taking up Tony Gregory's seat for Dublin Central, was accompanied by a group of her supporters.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach Brian Cowen has told the Dáil that he hasn't even considered when a by-election will be held in Donegal.

The election is necessary after Fianna Fáil's Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher was elected as an MEP for the North West early this morning.

Sinn Féin raised the issue in the Dáil this afternoon but Brian Cowen wouldn't be drawn on the matter.