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from the jaws of defeat
Incredible - Maureen O'Sullivan has come back from the dead to take the final seat in Dublin Central
The independent TD has retained her seat with a last-gasp charge at the 11th count.
11.59pm, 27 Feb 2016
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Sam Boal
Sam Boal
INDEPENDENT MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN has come from nowhere to take the final seat in her Dublin Central constituency.
On the 11th count as the clock approached midnight, O’Sullivan finally moved clear of her closest contender, the Social Democrats’ Gary Gannon, to seal her place in Dáil Eireann once more.
O’Sullivan said she had only heard that the scales had moved back in her favour “about twenty minutes ago”.
“I was absolutely surprised, I was feeling disappointed for the gang, not so much for myself, but it’s just amazing,” she said.
It was a good campaign, very positive, we kept our dignity, we were coping with our disappointment and now everything is changed again.
A member of the Dáil technical group, she was re-elected in the general election of 2011.
A splintering of the vote for independents and others in the area meant Christy Burke, the former lord mayor, and Gannon had outperformed O’Sullivan for much of the evening.
Gregory Deal
Tony Gregory was first elected in the February 1982 general election, and gained a national profile as a result of his ‘Gregory Deal’ with Fianna Fáil’s Charlie Haughey which included a massive boost in investment for the north inner city in return for the independent TD’s support for Haughey as Taoiseach.
On taking over the seat seven years ago, O’Sullivan continued her mentor’s work tackling drug addiction, drug crime and homelessness in the area.
Most recently, in the wake of the recent spate of gangland killings in north Dublin she had been campaigning for a Mini-Criminal Assets Bureau to tackle lower level drug dealers.
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It’s worthless if she just remains an independent. I wish the left in Ireland – O’Sullivan, Indos4change, AAAPBP, Social Democrats, Greens, and Sinn Fein – could just unite under a left banner and present an alternative government. That would be over 40 TDs right there, and potentially many more after the egos in FG/FF make another election necessary.
Not a thing, apart from appearing at a protest in Moore St.
I’m am very disappointed that Gary gannon didn’t get a seat, he is a young man from the inner city, went to college (in an area that has a low rate of attending 3rd level), a great example for a lot of disaffected youth in the area. The dail could have done with a young man like him!
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