This article is from page 53 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 53 JPG
OUTGOING Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea, has topped the poll in Limerick East with a whopping 19,082 first preference votes- making him more popular than the Taoiseach in voting terms.
The other four seats were filled in order by Michael Noonan (FG), Peter Power (FF), Jan O’Sullivan (LAB) and Kieran O’Donnell (FG). Pharmacist Tim O’Malley (PD) was the most high profile casualty.
If Fianna Fail form the next Gov- ernment, O’Dea’s victory puts him in contention for a high profile ministry such as justice- a post he recently ex- pressed an interest in and left free as outgoing minister for justice Michael McDowell has lost his seat.
Noonan, former Fine Gael leader and long serving TD, came in a not so close second on the second count with 8,484 votes.
O’Dea’s huge surplus of more than double the quota of 8,320, guaran- teed fellow Fianna Fail TD Peter Power the third seat as the marathon race for the remaining slots began.
Count after count followed at Lim- erick Racecourse in Patrickswell as Labour education spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan, young councillor Kieran O’Donnell and PD Minister of State, Tim O’Malley, led the field.
Votes from Trish Forde-Brennan (GP), Maurice Quinlivan (SF) and Noreen Ryan (FF) were added to tallies along with various eliminat- ed Independent candidates such as
prominent solicitor John Devane (the highest polling Independent with 469 votes total).
It took eight counts before O’Sullivan reached the quota and
O’Donnell, son of well known TD and MEP Tom O’Donnell, edged ahead of O’ Malley to be elected. The pro-O’Donnell roar was deat- ening as the results were announced
and as Noonan said in his speech, it sounded the end of an era for the Pro- gressive Democrats in their former stronghold of Limerick East.
The cousin of party founder Des
O’ Malley and nephew of former edu- cation minister Donagh O’Malley, said that he was “bitterly disappoint- ed” to lose his seat, conceding that politics is not for the “faint hearted”’.
His parting shot, “This is not the end for the PDs,’ echoed the defiant stance of many party members na- tionally as the PDs suffered massive losses including leader McDowell and deputy leader, Liz O’ Donnell.
Noonan added that Fine Gael’s vote management system had secured his party the same number of seats as Fi- anna Fail despite being 23 per cent below them overall in the constitu- STAY
It was 3.30am before the candidates had finished thanking supporters and election staff- a full eight hours after the count for Limerick West finished at the same venue. The west result of two Fianna Fail candidates and one for Fine Gael mirrors the east and so it seems that the voting trend for Limerick is clear.