Senator Tom Hayes of Fine Gael has won the Tipperary South by-election. Mr Hayes took the seat without reaching the quota. Phil Prendergast, the Independent candidate, came second with Michael Maguire of Fianna Fáil third and Denis Landy of the Labour Party fourth.
When Mr Maguire was eliminated Mr Hayes received 3,278 transfers bringing his total poll to 15,791. Ms Prendergast received 3,575 transfers from Mr Maguire bringing her total vote to 12,891. Mr Hayes was subsequently deemed elected without reaching the quota.
The state of the parties in Tipperary South after the vote is that Fine Gael has increased its share of the vote by 9%, bringing it to 35.8%. Fianna Fáil was up 3.7%, bringing it to 26.5%. The Labour party vote fell by 3.9%, giving it 12.8% of the vote. The turnout in Tipperary South was 58%, an increase of 1% on last year. Tipperary South has an electorate of 54,592.
Voting in the by-election ended at 10pm yesterday. It was the first time voters had been asked to go to the polls on a Saturday. The election was called following the death of the Fine Gael TD Theresa Ahern last year. Some voters had the opportunity to experiment with electronic voting machines, which were only on trial in Clonmel yesterday but could in the future replace the traditional ballot box.
