The Daily Star Ireland
**First Seat in New Seanad Goes to Michael McDowell as Counting Gets Under Way**
Independent senator Michael McDowell is the first candidate to take a seat in the newly elected Seanad. He was re-elected to the National University of Ireland panel on the first count, which finished just after midnight.
With a full valid poll of 36,114, the quota for election was 9,029. McDowell cruised past that figure, getting 11,390 first-preference votes, and his surplus after reaching the quota was 2,361 votes.
Remaining Candidates in the NUI Panel
After McDowell was elected, the remaining candidates compete for the two remaining seats. First count results for the other contenders read:
- Hilary Beirne – 362
- Rónán Collins – 2,604
- Eva Dowling – 3,239
- Alice Mary Higgin – 6,872
- Marie Keenan – 1,009
- Mairead Kenny – 417
- Dara Kilmartin – 703
- Rónán Mullen – 7,452
- Michael O’Doherty – 446
- Linda O’Shea Farren – 1,023
Based on these results, sitting Independent senators Rónán Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins look well placed for re-election as counting continues.
Dublin University/Trinity College Panel – First Count Results
Meanwhile, the Dublin University/Trinity College panel also completed its first count overnight. Unlike the NUI panel, no candidate reached the quota on the first count in this three-seat race.
He was the last of the eight candidates since Independent candidate Abbas Ali O’Shea received the fewest first-preference votes and therefore had been eliminated from the contest.
The total valid poll for this panel stood at 17,797, with a required quota of 4,450 votes. First count results showed:
- Abbas Ali O’Shea – 55 ELIMINATED
- Derek Byrne – 87
- Kevin Byrne – 495
- Hazel Chu – 1,450
- Tom Clonan – 3,473
- Laoise de Brún – 593
- Hugo MacNeill – 1,684
- Marcus Matthews – 186
- Aubrey McCarthy – 1,814
- John (Jack) Mulcahy – 140
- Paul Mulville – 305
- Ade Oluborode – 339
- Sadhbh O’Neill – 1,085
- Lynn Ruane – 3,761
- Ossian Smyth – 1,380
- Katherine Zappone – 950
Race for Remaining Seats
Incumbents Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan are relatively comfortable and may reach the quota in the next couple of counts. The final seat looks like a contest for the rest, but particularly between Independent candidate Aubrey McCarthy, Green Party representatives Hazel Chu and Ossian Smyth, Labour’s Sadhbh O’Neill, and Independent candidate Hugo MacNeill.
Independent candidate Katherine Zappone is also standing, though considerably further behind – not out of it but from the first count.
Count to Continue
Counting in the NUI panel resumes at 10am in the Shelbourne Hall in the RDS, while the count in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel resumes this morning at 9am in the exam hall on the Trinity College campus.
Also this morning, the five vocational Seanad panels will start their count at Leinster House.
