Cliffhanger as transfers set to to decide NUI Seanad election

NUI panel:The NUI Seanad election last night turned into a cliffhanger with barrister, columnist and lecturer Rónán Mullen in contention for one of the three seats on the university panel.

The 36-year-old former press officer for the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese looked set to come in second on first preferences after Senator Joe O'Toole, who seemed likely to top the poll based on tally returns.

Outgoing Senator Feargal Quinn was in third place with Labour Senator Brendan Ryan in fourth and Social and Human Rights researcher, Dr Valerie Bresnihan in fifth place.

Mr Mullen, a columnist with the Irish Daily Mail, director of Ceist - a new trust organisation for the Presentation, Mercy and Holy Rosary secondary schools - and lecturer at the Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown, said he was "honoured and privileged" to be in the running. He acknowledged, however, that the result would come down to transfers. One of his team described his transfer rate, based on tallies, as "not brilliant, but all right".

Another candidate in the contest pointed out that "we have been in this situation before when William Binchy did really well with first preference votes. We all thought he'd win a seat but then he just sat there because he didn't get the transfers. Whoever tops the poll will still only have two-thirds of the necessary vote, so it will all come down to transfers".

Prof Binchy, a pro-life campaigner, lost out on a seat in the 1997 election.

A socially conservative candidate, Mr Mullen, who was student union president from 1991-1992 at NUI Galway, said Prof Binchy was a friend and they shared similar values. The columnist had campaigned on "the dignity of the person, the importance of family and community life".

A campaigner against tax individualisation, Mr Mullen said the country should not be run solely as an economy but show concern for family and community.

Tallies indicated that Senator O'Toole was at 15.7 per cent and Mr Mullen at around 13.7 per cent. Senator Quinn had a showing of 11.1 per cent, Senator Ryan had 9.5 per cent and Dr Bresnihan was at 8.7 per cent, again based on tallies. She expressed her disappointment that she had not done better but added: "I guess it's not over until the fat lady sings."

Dr John Hillery, son of former president Dr Paddy Hillery, had a poor showing based on tallies.

The count at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin involved almost 37,000 votes from an electorate of some 103,000 from 10 recognised colleges. Turnout was about 3,000 higher than at the last Seanad election.

Senator O'Toole said that in the 2002 election with 14 candidates he got 17 per cent of first preferences. This time with 24 candidates he had between 15 per cent and 16 per cent and this was "a better position to be in but I need to improve to get a quota. It's a long way yet to go with up to 21 candidates to be eliminated".

Senator Quinn said the voting showed "a very sophisticated electorate . . . You can see people recognising on the one hand the efforts of sitting senators and on the other the newer candidates like Valerie Bresnihan and Ronan Mullen who are saying 'I can make a difference'."