Two Cork Seanad candidates elected as four more hopeful of winning seats

Cork representation is set to grow in the next Seanad as counting continues amid stiff competition for seats.

Macroom Fine Gael councillor Eileen Lynch and former Fianna Fáil TD Margaret Murphy O’Mahony both won seats but incumbent Tim Lombard of Fine Gael lost his seat on the 11 seater Agricultural panel, getting eliminated on the 17th count.

The party still managed to hold onto its four seats on the panel, with Cork County Councillor Eileen Lynch among the four candidates deemed elected on the final count, ending with the highest vote of her running mates.

Ms Lynch told The Echo: “I’m elated, still a little bit shocked and overwhelmed but absolutely thrilled.” Ms Lynch said her priorities will include sustainability and derogation as well as special needs services and as the only Cork Senator on the panel, she added that she will “absolutely be looking out for Cork”.

She said: “I got a good response from people, but with this being an internal election you can never really call it, so I was hopeful but not confident.” 

These two seats number already match the amount of Cork Senators elected in the 2020 Seanad election, Fine Gael’s Jerry Buttimer and Tim Lombard. Mr Buttimer did not run in this Seanad election due to being elected to the Dáil.

Ms Murphy O’Mahony, who had served as a TD for Cork South-West until 2020, and failed to get elected in the most recent local elections and previous general and Seanad election, was elected on the Labour panel.

No Cork candidates were elected on the five seater Cultural and Educational panel, though Fine Gael Cork City Councillor Shane O’Callaghan was among the last to be eliminated. Other Cork councillors who ran for the Seanad included Fianna Fáil’s Gillian Coughlan, Gearóid Murphy and Bernard Moynihan.

Counting began on the nine seater Industrial and Commercial panel on Sunday afternoon and had not concluded at the time of printing, but two Cork City Councillors were looking likely to take seats.

Labour’s Laura Harmon and Fine Gael’s Garret Kelleher, who both ran in the recent general elections, were in fifth and ninth place respectively in the nine-seater panel after the first count.

Mr Kelleher was the highest polling candidate of the eight his party ran, meaning that there was definitely at least one seat for his party and he only had to hope not to be overtaken and beaten to it by one of his Fine Gael running mates overtook him.

He remains in ninth place out of twelve candidates, with the three behind him all also Fine Gael candidates.

Ms Harmon, though in a better position based on first preferences, was the sole Labour candidate, so did not receive as many transfers as the government party candidates, meaning she would be hard placed to hold onto her spot.

She remained in fifth place until the 17th count, when she was pushed down to seventh – there are three candidates left to be eliminated, meaning the next elimination will be crucial, and Fine Gael will need it to split evenly between its three remaining candidates to push her out of winning a seat.

The final panel remaining to be decided is the Administrative panel, which has seven seats. West Cork Fine Gael councillor Noel O’Donovan is one of five candidates, including two incumbents, from his party.

Sinn Féin’s Nicole Ryan, who ran in the local elections in Cork North West, is the only candidate from her party, who have performed well in the Seanad elections so far, with the remainder of the five candidates the party nominated all being elected or close to being elected in the case of the party's Industrial and Commercial candidate.