Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
EXIT POLLS, THEN tallies and now results have told the same tale – and it was one that should have come with a reader’s warning for the coalition parties.
As votes were cast across the country on Friday, gains were made by Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Independents.
Some new faces are among those reaping the benefits of that support. Indeed, Micheál Martin made quite the pitch about the youngsters he had nurtured through local elections and straight into the halls of Leinster House.
Here’s a quick rundown of the first-time TDs that have been elected so far.
Fine Gael
Joespha Madigan, Dublin Rathdown
Josepha Madigan was elected in count 6 for the Dublin Rathdown constituency. She has been a member of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council since 2014.
Sam Boal
Sam Boal
She took the seat for Fine Gael ahead of former minister Alan Shatter who leaves the Dáil after decades of being a TD.
A county councillor since 2004, 39-year-old Maria Bailey was the former chairperson of the Dublin City Council’s transport committee. When she reached quota today, she became the 100th woman ever to be elected to Dáil Eireann.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
Tom Neville, Limerick County
He was hoping to keep his father Dan Neville’s seat and, as per tradition in Irish politics, he did.
A county councillor for six years from 2003, he emigrated in 2014. On his return, he was re-elected to council and decided to run for the Dáil this year on his father’s retirement.
Brophy has been a local representative on South Dublin County Council since 2008.
He came close to a seat in 2011 in Dublin South Central, but moved to the five-seat south west constituency this time around, where he was elected without reaching the quota.
The 28-year-old councillor takes a seat in Dublin North-West, edging out Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe.
Rock becomes the first Fine Gaeler to win a seat in the constituency for 25 years.
Kate O’Connell, Dublin Bay South
RollingNews.ie
RollingNews.ie
Elected as a councillor in 2014, O’Connell is a pharmacist from the Ranelagh area.
Her father was a Fine Gael councillor in Westmeath.
Fianna Fáil
Aindrias Moynihan, Cork North-West
First co-opted onto Cork County Council in 2003, Aindrias has retained his seat in every subsequent local election. He has degrees in engineering, marketing and management from CIT and UCC and is a member of a number of local committees in Cork.
Anne Rabbitte, Galway East
Fianna Fáil’s Anne Rabbitte has been elected for Galway East. It comes after she was elected to Galway county council on her first attempt in 2014.
She is first female TD to be returned by Galway in 20 years, according to local newspaper editor Lorraine O’Hanlon.
Mary Butler has been elected in the Waterford constituency, this was also her first time running in the general election after being elected to Waterford city and county council in 2014.
She was suitably draped in the tricolour today when she heard word that she had topped the poll.
Shane Cassells was similarly elated on reaching quota in Meath West on his first attempt today. He had previously contested for a Dáil seat in 2005 and 2011 without success.
Another new Fianna Fáiler, O’Loughlin – originally teacher by trade – has been a member of Kildare County Council since 1999.
A polished local performer, she was the mayor of Kildare and currently works as a Special Olympics public representative.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
Margaret Murphy-O’Mahony, Cork South-West
Used to serving in public office, Margaret Murphy-O’Mahony has twice been Mayor of Bandon. She was elected to Cork county council in 2014 and has worked in that position full-time since then.
Chasing the footsteps left by the late Brian Lenihan in Dublin West, young Jack Chambers was hoping to change his current deputy mayorship to a seat in the Dáil. And he did just that, taking the third seat ahead of Labour leader Joan Burton.
The 25-year-old has a law and political science degree and has been a councillor since 2014, sitting on a number of Fingal County Council committees.
John Lahart, Dublin South West
First elected to South Dublin County Council in 1999, John Lahart has been re-elected at every vote since. However, he failed to secure a Dáil seat in a 2014 by-election.
A former teacher, he was previously special adviser to former government chief whip Tom Kitt.
According to Paul Cullen in the Irish Times, he was also a milkman in a previous life.
Congratulations John Lahart who used to deliver the milk when I were a lad.
Chambers was being touted as a bellwether for Fianna Fáil. A positive performance and the party would perform nationally.
That has come to fruition as she and the party see success.
A barrister by profession, she is currently leas cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council.
Jackie Cahill, Tipperary
Director of Thurles Greyhound Stadium and is chairman of the National Dairy Council, he was elected to the council in 2014.
Advertisement
Declan Breathnach, Louth
Elected first as a Louth county councillor in 1991, he has been a member of the council since and ran once unsuccessfully for national office in 2011.
Frank O’Rourke, Kildare North
A councillor since 2011, he was Fianna Fáil director of elections for Kildare North in 2007.
James Lawless, Kildare North
A councillor since 2014, he has degrees in maths and finance and has studied law at King’s Inns.
Pat Casey, Wicklow
A former independent councillor, he joined the party to contest this election.
He is the owner of the Glendalough Hotel and is a member of a number of local boards and committees in his area, including the Joint Policing Committee.
Sinn Féin
Eoin Ó Broin, Dublin Mid-West
Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin was the first new TD officially announced on Saturday. The writer and political activist received 9,782 votes on the first count for Dublin Mid-West.
RollingNews.ie
RollingNews.ie
Kathleen Funchion, Carlow-Kilkenny
It was fourth time lucky for 34-year-old Kathleen Funchion from Carlow-Kilkenny, a county councillor since 2014.
Dolled up at the count centre on Saturday, she had to explain that she was participating in a charity Strictly Come Dancing event.
The Limerick City councillor is probably best remembered for his involvement in a defamation case which led to the resignation of Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea.
Quinlivan was elected to council in 2009 where he is the Sinn Féin party leader.
On Saturday, he was blessed with transfers from the AAA-PBP candidate Cian Prendiville and was elected after the fifth count – ahead of incumbents Michael Noonan and Jan O’Sullivan.
Elected first as a Waterford county councillor in 2004, he served on the council until he was elected to the Seanad Labour Panel in 2011. He has challenged unsuccessfully for a Dáil seat three times in the past and is the Sinn Féin party spokesperson on workers’ rights and political reform.
John Brady, Wicklow
John Brady has been a Wicklow county councillor for 12 years and it’s third time lucky for him in terms of winning a national seat.
He was elected after Count Two with Fine Gael junior minister Simon Harris.
A voluntary worker, he was elected to Cork County Council in 2014.
He is a co-founder of the Let’s Get Together Foundation, a suicide support group and is a prominent campaigner.
He holds the seat won by Sandra McLellan in 2011.
Donnchach O Laoghaire, Cork South Central
The councillor is just 26, a graduate of law and has worked as a political advisor to Sinn Féin senators He is also a former national organiser of Sinn Féin Youth.
First time’s the charm for O’Reilly – this is her first ever election.
A full-time trade union organiser with SIPTU, she is a member of the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
Imelda Munster, Louth
The Wee County elects its first woman ever to the Dáil.
She has been a councillor since 2004.
Green Party
Catherine Martin, Dublin Rathdown
Catherine Martin has been elected for Dublin Rathdown. The teacher was appointed deputy leader of the Green Party in 2011 and was elected to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in the 2014 local elections.
Mark Stedman
Mark Stedman
Independents
Michael Harty, Clare
A single-issue man, Michael Harty was elected after running a campaign focussed on the No Doctor, No Village message. He was elected after the ninth count with 11,962 votes.
"It's Michael Harty GP TD.. never forget your roots" says Clare's newest TD #GE16
Elected on his first attempt to Cork County Council in 2014, this was his first time running in a general election. And it was first-time’s a charm as the community activist bagged 9,258 votes and was elected after the fifth count.
There were bonfires lit for him back home.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
Seán Canney, Galway East
Seán Canney was elected in the Galway constituency today after he ran unsuccessfully in 2011. He has been a member of Galway County Council since 2004.
Here he is, making the sandwiches for the long day ahead. Photo courtesy of the legendary Teresa Mannion.
Danny Healy-Rae joins his brother Michael in the Dáil.
The pair devised a strategy to carve up the county and it worked a treat, Michael got the second-largest vote in the history of the state and Danny was swept in on the second count.
A full-time councillor since 1999, Boxer is one of the Independent Alliance’s new recruits (he left Fianna Fáil in 2011). This was third-time lucky after failing to win a general election and by-election previously. One of the local issues he wants to address once he gets going is the decision to downgrade the army structure in his area. He wants 500 extra troops to be recruited to Westmeath instead.
Katherine Zappone
At 62, Katherine Zappone is the oldest first-time TD in the 32nd Dáil. Independent Kerry deputy Danny Healy-Rae is 61 years old. She is also one of three serving Senators to be elected to the Dáil for the first time this weekend, along with Marc MacSharry and David Cullinane.
She came to political prominence fighting for equal rights to marriage for the LGBT community. She married her partner Ann Louise Gilligan at City Hall in front of President Michael D Higgins on 22 January this year.
Niall Carson
Niall Carson
AAA-PBP
Gino Kenny, Dublin Mid-West
Elected to South Dublin County Council in 2009, Gino Kenny retained his seat in 2014. He became involved with the Socialist Workers Party while in college and is an active campaigner against the property tax and the water charges.
He was elected today alongside Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin, Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald and Fianna Fáil comeback kid John Curran in Dublin Mid-West.
Mick Barry, Cork North-Central
Barry has run in all four general elections since 2002, and has waited 14 years for his first win, along with Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane, elected yesterday in Waterford.
With reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll, Paul Hosford and Cliodhna Russell
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Thats the thing about these socialists they can only see things skin deep and they’ll toss your country aside to feel like moral people. Dunno what party the girl with the Irish flag was from but Respect, we need politicians that care about this country not their bloody village and thats it.
Paul.. There is absolutely no legislation regarding the “desecration” of the Tricolor.It may be strongly discouraged to write on or otherwise deface it but it’s not illegal.
Aindrias Moynihan and Michael Moynihan are most certainly not brothers. Alastair Campbell is right – journalism has gone to the dogs. Poor editing and complete absence of fact-checking.
Of course when Ireland was under the British govt boot heel somewhere in the world some idiot was bemoaning another principaled working class champion showing his solidarity with the Irish. How soon some forget their own history and the connection with the present. Free Palestine!
Some brilliant right2change candidates entering the Dail for the first time. Thank you everyone who helped to put them there! PBPs Gino Kenny rockin’ the Palestinian flag was thing of beauty!!
(Had goosebumps watching them being elected to cheers of ‘NO WAY, WE WON’T PAY”)
Jack Chambers is straight out of the Hitler Youth. A little clone from the 60s with awful outdated views on women and the working class. How he got voted in I’ve no idea.
Fianna Fáil TD apologises after claiming in Dáil that British Army never shot civilians in Ireland
57 mins ago
17.2k
91
An Garda Síochána
High Court rules suspension of Garda who allegedly had inappropriate relationship with woman is lawful
11 mins ago
706
Dublin
Garda seriously injured after being struck by motorbike in Finglas
15 hrs ago
34.5k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 197 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 137 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 177 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 139 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 101 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 102 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 47 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 43 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 161 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 73 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 96 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 102 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 45 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 60 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 29 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 112 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 115 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 63 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 107 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 90 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say