DONEGAL BYELECTION:THE RESULT of the Donegal South West byelection vindicated his decision to take a High Court action to force the moving of the writ, newly elected Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said last night.
In his victory speech at the count centre in Stranorlar, Mr Doherty told his cheering supporters: “This is the election this Government never wanted to happen, and maybe the result will tell you why.”
Returning officer Geraldine O’Connor declared Mr Doherty elected at 6.42pm at the count centre in the Finn Valley Athletics Club, Stranorlar.
This followed the distribution the votes of Independent candidate Thomas Pringle on the fourth count, almost half of which went to the Sinn Féin contender.
Labour candidate Frank McBrearty was eliminated on the second count, ahead of Mr Pringle, but he had the satisfaction of more than trebling his party’s vote share in the last general election.
Fianna Fáil candidate Senator Brian Ó Dómhnaill secured the second-highest number of first preferences but was passed out on the fourth count by Councillor Barry O’Neill of Fine Gael. Fianna Fáil’s share of the vote went from 51 per cent in the last general election down to 21 per cent.
“This is a historic day,” Mr Doherty said, “and I’m absolutely blown away by the support of the people of Donegal South West.”
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said there was a clear message from the byelection figures. “The Government should go.”
He added: “I think there is also a lesson for the Labour Party leadership, because Labour and Fine Gael stood here. People had a range of good candidates to choose from: they decided to go for Pearse and for Sinn Féin.
“It was implicit in Labour’s message that they would form a government with Fine Gael: people rejected that.”
Asked if he believed the byelection win would help his own chances as a general election candidate in Louth, Mr Adams replied: “This is all bigger than Sinn Féin because the country is in such a crisis.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Education Mary Coughlan said the announcement by the Green Party of its intention to withdraw from the Government had been a major distraction for the Fianna Fáil campaign.
“There was a certainty brought to the fact that there would be a general election in the New Year and many people in the party then changed their concentration away from a byelection to a general election and that’s to be expected,” the Tánaiste said.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny congratulated Mr Doherty on his win and Mr O’Neill on “a very creditable performance” for Fine Gael. “What the country truly needs is to have the voices of all of its people heard through a general election which would give a new government a mandate to address the current economic crisis,” Mr Kenny said.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore congratulated the winner and praised Mr McBrearty for a “very encouraging” performance. “The most significant aspect of this election,” he added, “is the collapse in support for Fianna Fáil which has seen its vote fall from 50 per cent to just over 20 per cent.”
The byelection victory of Mr Doherty brings the Government’s Dáil majority down to two votes.
Meanwhile Independent TD for Dublin North Central Finian McGrath told The Irish Times he had received a call from Sinn Féin last night on the possibility of setting up a technical group of seven TDs in the Dáil.
He said he and Dublin Central Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan would be meeting on Monday to discuss the issue. “We will possibly be having a meeting with Sinn Féin on Tuesday.”
A technical group of five Sinn Féin TDs and two independents would have similar status to the other parties including the right to take part in Leaders’ Questions. It would also mean that Sinn Féin’s current motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach could be brought to the floor of the House.