Labour's Mr Derek McDowell, who lost his Dáil seat in the general election, was elected to the Seanad last night.
Mr McDowell was first home in the marathon count in the Industrial and Commercial panel, which continued late in Leinster House. Thirty-eight candidates were seeking the nine seats.
Mr McDowell will now attempt to rebuild his Dublin North Central constituency base. His principal target will be the Independent, Mr Finian McGrath, who was active in the constituency for years before his election to the Dáil in the last election.
First elected to the Dáil in 1992, Mr McDowell survived the swing against Labour in 1997. He was the party's spokesman on health and children, and was, later, made finance spokesman when Mr Ruairí Quinn took over from Mr Dick Spring as party leader.
Mr McDowell polled 84,000 first preference votes and was elected on the 21st count. The quota was 95,501 votes.
Other defeated TDs were not so lucky. Fianna Fáil's Dr Tom Moffatt, a former minister of state in the Department of Health, who lost his Mayo seat, failed to make an impression. He secured just 14,000 votes.
Mr Brendan Kenneally, also of Fianna Fáil, who lost his Waterford seat, secured 26,000 first preferences, but was later eliminated. First elected to the Dáil in 1989, he was a minister of state at the Department of Tourism, Transport and Communications from February 1992 to January '93.
Fine Gael's Ms Deirdre Clune, who lost her Dáil seat in Cork South Central, was battling for political survival as the count progressed last night. Ms Clune, daughter of former minister for foreign affairs, Mr Peter Barry, polled 35,000 first preference votes, but faced an uphill struggled to secure the necessary transfers to secure a seat.
Outgoing senator Mr Eddie Bohan (FF) seemed set to retain his seat, as did Fine Gael's Mr Paul Coghlan. Another outgoing senator Ms Margaret Cox, an unsuccessful Dáil candidate in Galway West, also seemed set to return to the Seanad.
Mr Marc MacSharry, son of the former Fianna Fáil government minister and EU commissioner, Mr Ray MacSharry, was in contention for a seat. So, too, was Fine Gael's Mr James Bannon, a Longford county councillor, and Ms Sheila Terry, an unsuccessful FG candidate in Dublin West in the general election.
Ms Mary M. White, of Fianna Fáil, who polled 39,000 first preferences, was also battling for a seat. However, Ms Mary A. White, of the Green Party, an unsuccessful candidate in Carlow-Kilkenny in the general election, was not expected to make it.
A Kerry county councillor, Mr Michael Cahill, a close associate of the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, was also, at one stage, challenging for a seat.
The counting of votes in the five vocational panels will be completed today when the seven seats in the Administrative panel are filled.
The Taoiseach is expected to announce his 11 nominees to the Seanad next week.
