Fine Gael and the Social Democrats recorded morale-boosting victories in the Galway West and Dublin Central byelections after lengthy counts at the weekend.
Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne clinched the Galway contest on Sunday evening, defeating Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas on the 11th count, while the Social Democrats’ Daniel Ennis, who led from the first count, was deemed elected in Dublin late on Saturday night.
The results leave the Dáil arithmetic unchanged but will encourage parties of the soft left – the Social Democrats, Labour and the Greens – and also parties and candidates to the right of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which saw their votes grow.
- Dublin Central results - full count data
- Gaway West results - full count data
Fianna Fáil suffered a humiliating defeat in Dublin, where it recorded its worst-ever byelection performance. The performance in Galway was better, but its candidate Cillian Keane was never in contention. He transferred strongly to Fine Gael’s Kyne, whose victory provides party leader Simon Harris with a boost.
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Sinn Féin is left with difficult questions to ponder following a weak performance in Galway and failing to take a seat in party leader Mary Lou McDonald’s home constituency.
After seeing her party squeezed from both right and left McDonald said she would continue to “lead on, and the job of leader is that you are there on the good days and the bad”.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the election of Ennis shows that people who want an alternative to the Government are “increasingly choosing” her party and she also spoke of plans to run a candidate in every constituency in the next general election.
Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan came second in Dublin, while the Green Party’s Janet Horner came third. Veteran criminal Gerard Hutch, who ran as an Independent candidate and commanded much media attention during the campaign, came fourth.
In a strong showing for anti-establishment candidates, both Hutch and anti-immigration independent councillor Malachy Steenson grew their share of the first-preference vote when compared with the general election in 2024.
In Galway, Independent Ireland candidate Thomas topped the poll in the first count on Saturday but he was overhauled by Kyne in the final count thanks to transfers from Labour’s Helen Ogbu.
Speaking before the final result, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said Kyne’s likely victory represented “a moment of growth and renewal” for the party as well as an endorsement of centrist politics.
“What I take from this is a small sense of encouragement that people will respond to politics that is about trying to deliver solutions, politics that is trying to not be angry or loud or shouty, but actually trying to work hard to deliver,” Harris told reporters at the count centre.
“If we prevail today, I think that’s a victory for centrist politics,” he said. “I am very eager as I want to help lead the centre in Irish politics. I want to make sure the centre holds.”
It was a miserable weekend for Fianna Fáil with its candidates Keane and John Stephens in Dublin Central taking 8.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent of the first preference votes respectively.
There was renewed disgruntlement among some in the party but no real indication of any immediate move against party leader Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Fianna Fáil TDs grumbled privately, but there was little sense of any renewed push against Martin’s leadership on Sunday night. One Fianna Fáil TD described the Dublin Central result as a “wipeout” and a “disaster” and said: “There will have to be a radical reset. The party will have to be seen to stand for something. At the moment nobody quite knows that it stands for.”
