The Government is set to have a majority of eight in the new Seanad, following Fianna Fail's gain of five seats in the elections to the vocational panels which were completed early this morning. Fianna Fail has 23 seats, Fine Gael has held its 16 seats and Labour has four seats, a loss of one.
The six university panel seats were filled on Thursday, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will nominate his 11 next month. This will give the Government a total of 34 seats as against the combined opposition total of 26 seats.
The threat of a court challenge to the results was lifted early this morning, following the comfortable election of the fourth Labour Senator.
When it was revealed on Wednesday that seven envelopes containing 35 votes from Fingal County Council in north Dublin were incorrectly sealed, Labour indicated that it was reserving the right to ask the High Court to rule that the excluded ballots be reinstated.
Five of the envelopes were understood to contain the votes of Labour councillors. However, when it emerged that the excluded ballots would not affect the overall results, Labour sources privately ruled out a legal challenge.
In the count for the Administrative panel Mr Joe Costello of Labour, who lost his Dail seat in Dublin Central in the recent election, was returned at the head of the poll.
The Fianna Fail had gained five seats as counting was completed in four of the five vocational panels in the Seanad elections last night. The Fianna Fail gains were at the expense of Labour, Democratic Left, independents and its Government partners, the Progressive Democrats, who withdrew from the election and supported Fianna Fail candidates as part of a deal which will give them four of the Taoiseach's 11 nominees.
The counts for the six university seats were completed on Thursday. ail had 20 seats, Fine Gael had retained its 13 and Labour had three, a loss of one. Fianna Fail took a Labour seat on the Cultural and Educational panel, two PD seats, on the Agricultural and the Industrial and Commercial panels, the Democratic Left seat on the Labour panel, and the Independent seat held by Mr Sam McAughtry. He had won a by-election on the Industrial and Commercial panel in the last Seanad, taking a seat previously held by Fianna Fail.
The loss of the Democratic Left seat, held by Mr Joe Sherlock, a former TD for Cork East, leaves the party with no representation in the Upper House.
The Fianna Fail gains were seen as a vindication of the electoral strategy it devised with the PDs. For the PDs, the deal will have the advantage of seeing their representation double from two to four.
Yesterday's marathon count for the Industrial and Commercial panel saw the defeat of the former Fine Gael TD for Donegal North East, Mr Paddy Harte, who lost his Dail seat in the last election after an unbroken run of 36 years.
Mr Michael Howard, a Fine Gael senator from Clare, who first won a seat in 1977, was defeated, but Mr Paul Coghlan, a Fine Gael member of Kerry County Council, won a seat in his second Seanad election. Mr Coghlan is a prominent party activist in Kerry South.