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Kilrush native Upton keeps her seat

This article is from page 4 of the 2007-05-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG

WEST Clare may not have returned a local TD to represent it in the 30th Dail but it can take heart that one of its own was among the 166 Dail deputies elected on Thursday.

Kilrush native, Dr Mary Upton was re-elected to the Dail for Dublin South Central after a long drawn-out count in the capital.

The Labour TD was elected on the ninth count to the five-seater con- stituency.

A qualified microbiologist and

former lecturer at University College Dublin, Dr Upton won her first Dail seat in the 1999 by-election follow- ing the death of her brother, Pat.

She was re-elected in 2002, and ap- pointed Labour Party spokesperson on Agriculture and Food.

Among her other achievements in politics was her appointment to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food from 2002 to 2007.

She is also a board member of Fa- tima Mansions Regeneration Board and of James’ Street CBS.

The 60-year-old Kilrush woman was chairperson of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and the National Council for Educational Awards.

She previously held the portfolio of food safety, consumer affairs and health promotion.

Her academic background and her quietly spoken articulate manner saw her comments in these roles respect- ed and rarely challenged.

Dr Upton was educated in Colaiste Mhuire, Ennis, before attending Un1- versity College, Galway and Univer-

sity College Dublin.

The newly returned TD now lives in Dundrum. She was the third TD to be returned to the hotly contested Dublin constituency, with a first pref- erence vote of 5,987 and a surplus on the ninth count of 1,261 votes.

The transfers were not enough how- ever to bring in running mate Eric Byrne.

Byrne lost out in a lengthy battle with sitting TD, Aengus O Snodaigh (SF), who eventually took the seat by 69 votes after a recheck of ballot papers.

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