Twenty-eight sitting deputies lost their seats in June and a further 17 stood down. This sort of casualty rate keeps former FG TD Ted Nealon in business. Nealon's Guide To The 28th Dail And Seanad appeared this week with a beaming photo of Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney on the cover. It's his 9th edition since 1973 and as usual the print run of nearly 5,000 is expected to sell out.
As well as all the count details and the biographies of the 166 members of the Dail and 60 senators, complete with photos, he lists MEPs, EU Commissioners, party offices and officers, and gives many statistics. The two most keenly fought last seats in June were in Dublin South East, where the Green John Gormley beat PD Michael McDowell by 27 votes, and in Dublin North West where DL's Proinsias de Rossa beat FG's Brendan Brady by 100 votes. And 23 of the sitting deputies are sons of former members, seven are daughters, five are nephews, nine are grandchildren and there are five pairs of brothers.
The biggest vote getters were FG leader John Bruton, FF's Willie O'Dea, Bertie Ahern and Liam Aylward and then Michael Lowry and SF's Caoimhghin O Caolain. When the size of the electorate and the number of candidates are considered, Ahern is first, followed by O'Dea then Noel Ahern (the brother), Bruton, Ivor Callely, Aylward, Michael Noonan, Dick Spring, Lowry and O Caolain.
The longest-serving member is the Ceann Comhairle Seamus Pat- tison (1961) and then David An- drews, Ben Briscoe and Bobby Molloy, all of whom came in 1965. Nealon finds that deputies have an average of 3.5 children, and 22 (13.25 per cent) are not married. Nearly 67 per cent of deputies have third-level education, including all four PDs and all four DL members; 138 are fulltime politicians, followed by 38 who are teachers, and there are 23 farmers. Two by-elections are pending so updates will be needed, and while Nealon was able to include Ray Burke's resignation and Jim Kemmy's death, he had gone to press before Ruairi Quinn replaced Dick Spring as Labour leader.