Lee, O'Sullivan claim Dublin bye-elections
Sunday, 7 June 2009 22:05
Fine Gael's George Lee won the Dublin South bye-election on the first count yesterday, while Independent Maureen O'Sullivan won in Dublin Central.
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Take a look at photos from the RDS count centre
Ms O'Sullivan was declared elected after reaching 13,739 votes. She was short of the quota of 14,207.
For a time it looked as if Labour's Ivana Bacik and Fine Gael's Paschal Donohoe could be in contention, but strong transfers from Fianna Fáil's Maurice Ahern and Sinn Féin's Christy Burke, pushed the Independent candiate well ahead of the pack.
Afterwards, Ms O'Sullivan said she looked forward to serving the area as a TD and said a lot of work needs to be done.
She said she would be a community-committed TD who would serve ordinary people.
Ms O'Sullivan added that it was sad Tony Gregory was not there to see her victory, but she said he would have a wry look on his face wherever he is.
Massive win for Lee
In Dublin South, more than 27,000 votes propelled Mr Lee to victory, becoming the first candidate to win a bye-election on the first count since Brian Cowen in 1984.
Almost from the moment the boxes were open, tallies indicated that Mr Lee was on course to take the seat.
He was elected with a total of 27,768 votes, the highest ever achieved by Fine Gael in that constituency. The quota was 26,019.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said 'to be put down as number one by so many people is an amazing achievement'.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said it was 'a truly spectacular victory' for Mr Lee and for the party.
Labour's Alex White had 10,294 votes while Shay Brennan of Fianna Fáil had 9,250.
- Nine News: Paul Cunningham reports that Fianna Fáil is on course to suffer the worst election result in its history
- Nine News: John Kilraine reports that Bertie Ahern's political machine could not prevent his own brother being beaten into fifth place in the Dublin Central bye-election
- Nine News: George Lee, Fine Gael and Maureen O'Sullivan, Independent, discuss today's results and the message sent to Fianna Fáil from voters
- Six One News: Maureen O'Sullivan, Independent, said the result in the Dublin Central bye-election was a vote for what Tony Gregory stood for
- Elections 2009: Dublin Central bye-election
- Morning Ireland: Maureen O'Sullivan (Ind) responds to the announcement of her success last night
