2019 Dublin Fingal by-election
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| Turnout | 25,344 (25.6%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Dublin Fingal constituency in Ireland on Friday, 29 November 2019, to fill the vacancy left by the election of Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly to the European Parliament.
It was held on the same day as three other by-elections in Cork North-Central, Dublin Mid-West and Wexford.[1] The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011 stipulates that a by-election in Ireland must be held within six months of a vacancy occurring.[2] The by-election writ was moved in the Dáil on 7 November 2019.[3][4]
At the 2016 general election, the electorate of Dublin Fingal was 93,486, and the constituency elected one Fianna Fáil TD, one Independents 4 Change TD, one Fine Gael TD, one Labour Party TD, and one Sinn Féin TD.[5]
The election was won by Fingal County Councillor Joe O'Brien of the Green Party. It was the first by-election won by a Green Party candidate. Karen Power was co-opted to O'Brien's seat on Fingal County Council following his election to the Dáil
Among the candidates were 2 Senators Lorraine Clifford-Lee and James Reilly and four Fingal County Councillors Ann Graves, Dean Mulligan, Joe O'Brien and Duncan Smith.
This was the first occasion when by-elections were contested by Independents 4 Change (who also contested Dublin Mid-West) and the Social Democrats (who also contested Cork North-Central and Dublin Mid-West).
Campaign
During the campaign, the Fianna Fáil candidate Lorraine Clifford-Lee was embroiled in controversy when she had to apologise for the language she had used in tweets she had made in 2011, which were derogatory towards the Traveller community.[6]
Result
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Green | Joe O'Brien | 22.9 | 5,744 | 5,837 | 5,965 | 6,091 | 6,784 | 7,984 | 9,183 | 12,315 | |
| Fianna Fáil | Lorraine Clifford-Lee | 18.5 | 4,631 | 4,672 | 4,766 | 4,929 | 5,252 | 5,648 | 6,547 | 7,754 | |
| Labour | Duncan Smith | 15.2 | 3,821 | 3,866 | 3,926 | 4,008 | 4,347 | 4,999 | 6,300 | ||
| Fine Gael | James Reilly | 14.8 | 3,707 | 3,753 | 3,803 | 3,882 | 3,992 | 4,200 | |||
| Inds. 4 Change | Dean Mulligan | 10.2 | 2,550 | 2,606 | 2,745 | 2,909 | 3,754 | ||||
| Sinn Féin | Ann Graves | 5.3 | 1,327 | 1,361 | 1,402 | 1,481 | |||||
| Social Democrats | Tracey Carey | 4.4 | 1,106 | 1,125 | 1,214 | 1,273 | |||||
| Independent | Gemma O'Doherty | 4.1 | 1,026 | 1,088 | 1,149 | ||||||
| Independent | Glenn Brady | 2.7 | 670 | 726 | |||||||
| Independent | Peadar O'Kelly | 1.4 | 350 | ||||||||
| Independent | Charlie Keddy | 0.4 | 112 | ||||||||
| Independent | Cormac McKay | 0.2 | 46 | ||||||||
| Electorate: 99,039 Valid: 25,090 Spoilt: 254 (1.0%) Quota: 12,546 Turnout: 25,344 (25.6%) | |||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ "Four by-elections likely to take place in November". RTÉ News. 17 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Writs moved for four Dáil by-elections". RTÉ News. 7 November 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 7 November 2019: Dublin Fingal By-election: Issue of Writ". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ "Dublin Fingal – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Clifford-Lee very sorry for offensive language used in tweets". RTE.ie. 16 November 2019. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
- ^ Kelly, Fiach (30 November 2019). "Dublin Fingal: Joe O'Brien wins Green Party's first ever byelection". Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Dublin Fingal". Irish Times. Dublin. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.