Labour TD Alan Kelly, who is 49, and Fianna Fail Cllr Ryan O’Meara, 29, have both won seats in North Tipperary as the counting of votes concluded in Thurles yesterday. Deputy Kelly has been a TD since 2011 and previously served as Senator and Member of the European Parliament. Cllr O’Meara aged 29, was first elected to the Council in June of this year and has worked for the last four years as Jackie Cahill’s Parliamentary assistant. Mr Cahill did not stand in this election. Michael Lowry, aged 70, was elected on the first count on Saturday after exceeding the quota. North Tipperary is a three seat constituency.
All 174 seats in the Dáil are now filled and Fianna Fail is the largest party with 48 TDs, Sinn Fein have 39, Fine Gael 38, Labour and Social Democrats both have 11 TDs, the Independent Ireland party has four TDs, PBP-Solidarity have three, Aontú two TDs Green Party one TD and the 100% Redress Party based in Donegal has one seat – there are also 16 Independent TDs.88 TDs are required to have a majority of one in the Dáil and the incoming Government is likely to want to start with a higher majority – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael combined have 86 seats – both have ruled out going into government with Sinn Fein. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin will each hold a meeting of their parliamentary parties this week after which talks on a programme for Government will begin. The Dáil is due to meet again on December 18th however it is unlikely that a deal will have been reached at that stage.
Elections for 49 seats in the Seanad are now to take place and these will not be finalised until the end of January. TDs, Senators and Councillors will vote to elect 43 of the seats and graduates from certain Universities will elect 6 Senators. The incoming Taoiseach will appoint the final 11 Senators.
