General Election newcomer Mary Butler opens Fianna Fáil recovery
The coalition lost two TDs over the course of the day, with Labour’s Ciara Conway limping out and junior minister Paudie Coffey losing out to fellow Fine Gaeler John Deasy Butler.
Ms Butler, a mother of three who works part-time in a city centre jewellery store, was only elected onto Waterford City and County Council in 2014 but, despite her status as a newcomer, she claimed 20.5% of the first preference votes. In 2011, Waterford failed to return a single Fianna Fáil candidate for the first time since 1927.
They recovered to become the largest-represented party at council level in 2014’s local elections, and when the boxes were opened it was clear the voters who shunned them previously had returned.
Mary Butler FF elected in Waterford on 10,603 votes. Quota 10,341. pic.twitter.com/HJgNfdjo35
— Niamh Nolan (@NolanNiamh) February 27, 2016
At the fourth time of asking, David Cullinane grabbed a Dáil seat for Sinn Féin, becoming the party’s first TD in Waterford since Caitlín Brugha in the 1920s. Cullinane, who was elected to the Seanad five years ago, was congratulated by Martin McGuinness on passing the magic number of 10,341 on the sixth count. The 41-year-old Cullinane unleashed a flurry of punches to the air; a rare emotional release from such a composed orator who almost double his first preference share from 9.9% to 18.8%.
John Halligan, part of the Independent Alliance, will return to the Dáil having improved his vote since 2011. He was the last of the candidates elected having reached the quota after picking up transfers from Conway and the Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan, leaving Coffey, aligned to the Taoiseach, and the outspoken Deasy to battle it out for the fourth and final seat.
Deasy led by around 400 votes from the first count until the last. Coffey’s team resigned themselves to defeat shortly before midnight.
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