Dr Martin Mansergh, a senior adviser to the Taoiseach who was elected to the Seanad yesterday, has not ruled out running for the Dáil again.
Dr Mansergh, an adviser to three Fianna Fáil Taoisigh, said he planned to be an active senator and also deal with representations from voters in Tipperary South, where he was an unsuccessful candidate in the general election.
He said he now had to make the "major transition" from an adviser in the public service to a public representative. He added that he had severed all his links with the Department of the Taoiseach, because the two roles were not compatible.
Although he declined to specifically say that he would seek a nomination for the next Dáil election, Dr Mansergh added: "Who knows where any of us will be in five years time? But the show has to be kept on the road in the meantime, and I do hope to be active in dealing with Tipperary South problems as well as those at national level. I hope to deal with representations from Tipperary in a far more systematic way than I could as an adviser."
Dr Mansergh, who was elected to the Agricultural panel on the 23rd count, said he had enjoyed travelling around the State seeking Seanad votes. "The next best thing to being elected by the people is being elected by those whom the people elect."
Oxford-educated Dr Mansergh has worked in government and in opposition with three Fianna Fáil leaders, Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Albert Reynolds and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, for 21 years. He played a central role in developing contacts between the Government and the republican movement in the lead-up to the IRA ceasefires, and, later, in the political negotiations leading to the signing of the Belfast Agreement.
The marathon Agricultural panel count, which began on Tuesday and ended yesterday, also saw the election of youngest senator so far, Mr John Paul Phelan (23), from Tullogher in south Kilkenny. Elected to Kilkenny County Council in 1999, he described his new role as a senator as his "first real job". Mr Phelan is now in line to be a Fine Gael candidate in the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency in the next Dáil election. The party lost its second seat there in the recent general election.
The count saw the surprise defeat of Fine Gael senator and former TD, Mr John Connor, from Frenchpark, Co Roscommon. He first became a member of the Oireachtas when elected to the Dáil for the then Roscommon constituency in 1981. The rest of his career was spent between the Dáil and the Seanad as he became one of the formidable survivors of Irish politics.
Another outgoing senator, Fianna Fáil's Mr Pat Moylan, from Banagher, Co Offaly, also lost his seat. Fine Gael's Mr Paul Bradford, who lost his seat in Cork East in the general election, and Mr Ulick Burke, who lost in Galway East, each won a seat.
The 11 senators elected to the Agricultural panel are: Mr Francis O'Brien, Mr Jim Walsh, Mr Rory Kiely, Dr Martin Mansergh, Mr Éamon Scanlon, Mr Peter Callanan, FF; Mr Paddy Burke, Mr Paul Bradford, Mr Ulick Burke, Mr John Paul Phelan, FG; Ms Kathleen O'Meara, Labour.
