1997: FF 46.5%; FG 41.12%; Labour 7.4% Others 4.97%.Outgoing TDs: Donal Moynihan and Michael Moynihan(FF); Michael Creed (FG).
Watch here for the first count performance of Fine Gael's Gerard Murphy to see if his attempt to challenge for the seat held up to now by Fianna Fáil's Donal Moynihan has materialised. Could he prove to be a rare Fine Gael gain on a bad day? However, Murphy will need to do significantly better than the 6,253 first preference vote won by Fine Gael's Frank Crowley in 1997, which was not enough to prevent his ousting by Fianna Fáil. Outgoing Fine Gael TD Michael Creed, having gained as the party's education spokesman under Michael Noonan, appears secure. Creed will have to have had agreed to a vote management arrangement for Murphy to be in really in the game after the first count - a strategy which might not be entirely without risk to himself. The other Fianna Fáil candidate, Michael Moynihan, Crowley's vanquisher in 1997, is not entirely immune from the Murphy performance - as recent tensions within FF have shown, though his chairmanship of Ógra will have enhanced his local profile.