Irish Examiner View: Labour's Ivana Bacik trumps the parties of convention

Her election shows that voters have appetite for reform

The election of the Labour Party's Ivana Bacik continues the rejection of the political status quo in Ireland. Picture: Damien Storan.

The election of Labour candidate Ivana Bacik in the Dublin Bay South by-election is a welcome continuation of the rejection of the long-established conventions of Irish politics. An inveterate campaigner, Ms Bacik outperformed her party dramatically. After the first tally, she was on 30.4%, more than 10 times the Labour Party's rating in a recent poll.

Her victory offers many questions, not least for Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader, Leo Vardkar, who chose a nice-boy candidate, James Geoghegan, straight from his party's central casting, despite having a more plausible alternative. Taoiseach Micheál Martin cannot but be concerned by his candidate's showing, too. Early counts suggested that Fianna Fáil's Deirdre Conway might struggle to reach 5%, a figure that may stir the party's obituary writers from their slumbers.