Fianna Fail gained a seat in the cultural and educational panel last night when Mr Labhras O Murchu was elected on the 15th count. Mr O Murchu, the long-serving director general of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, was nominated by the Irish traditional and cultural movement rather than Fianna Fail. However, he said he would take the FF whip. He secured the seat at the expense of the Labour Party, whose outgoing senator, Ms Mary Kelly, did not seek a nomination.
Mr O Murchu, from Cashel, Co Tipperary, said he wanted to promote all aspects of Irish culture and the Seanad would provide an excellent platform. Fianna Fail also topped the poll in the panel through outgoing senator, Ms Ann Ormonde, a defeated FF general election candidate in the Dublin South constituency, who was elected on the 12th count.
Three other outgoing members were also elected - Mr Paschal Mooney (FF) on the 14th count, and Fine Gael's Mr Maurice Manning and Ms Madeleine TaylorQuinn on the 16th count.
Cultural and Educational Panel (five seats)
Electorate: 992,000; Total poll: 989,000; Spoiled votes: 15,000; Total valid poll: 974,000 Quota: 162,334
First count
*Ormonde Ann 121,000
Walsh Eamon 112,000 *Manning Maurice 93,000 *Mooney Paschal 91,000 *Taylor-Quinn Madeleine 82,000
O'Reilly Joe 75,000
O Murchu Labhras 73,000
Abbott Henry 55,000
Chambers Frank 45,000
Hillery John 44,000
Flynn Nora 36,000
O Foighil Pol 36,000
Feeney Geraldine 29,000
Lyons Denis 26,000
O'Reilly Michael 21,000
Whelan Noel 20,000
Davis Gerard 8,000
Walsh Babette 4,000 Herity Michael 3,000
* denotes outgoing member
Ormonde elected on the 12th count; Mooney on the 14th; O Murchu on the 15th and Manning and Taylor-Quinn on the 16th.
(In the vocational panels, individual votes are multiplied by 1,000 to aid calculations, especially in the distribution of surpluses.)