MARY Harney was very disappointed with the party's result. "I think we got squeezed out by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Our vote went up by almost 1 per cent but we lost seats to better vote management by the two big parties." The Progressive Democrats leader was calm and frank about the losses when she arrived at the Tallaght count shortly before her own election was confirmed late on Saturday evening.
Early on in the Dublin South West count it looked as if even her own position was precarious. It seemed that after the elimination of her party colleague, Colm Tyndall, she would not get transfers from other parties. Her people were slightly worried but felt she would battle through. One said she had messed up her own campaign. "Three weeks ago in Clondalkin she had 26 per cent. Today she has 13 per cent because of her comments about jobs." Another member said she was only in the constituency for the last day of the campaign.
She admitted she had campaigned more at the national level and this was a dilemma. In the end she got the fourth seat, elected without reaching the quota, along with Conor Lenihan of Fianna Fail.
Ms Harney does not regret her remarks during the campaign. "I believe in being honest and forth right," she said. The party's strategies were picked on, particularly by Labour to try to divide Fianna Fail and her party.
She was still hopeful that the party would be in government but would not speculate on possible combinations. "We are not negotiating tonight and we might not even be negotiating tomorrow, she said. Disappointment for some but happiness for others. Brian Hayes became a Fine Gael councillor two and a half years ago and was the party's surprise victor, topping the poll and taking the first Fine Gael seat there since 1987.
His supporters were jubilant. "Brian Hayes is a worker. He did it by himself," said local constituency chairman, Michael Broderick. The candidate himself was "ecstatic". He hoped to get in but not to top the poll. "I never stopped canvassing since I became a councillor." One of the surprises of the count was the turnout for Sinn Fein candidate Sean Crowe, the 40 year old voluntary worker who quadrupled his first preference votes from 846 in 1992 to 3,703. He held on until the sixth count.
The Socialist Party's Mick Murphy polled a respectable 2,026 first preference votes, and Democratic Left Minister of State Pat Rabbitte reached the quota on the seventh count, increasing his first preference votes by just over 1,000. Chris Flood of Fianna Fail also retained his seat.
The big shock was the collapse of the Labour Party vote, down from almost 34 per cent to just under 10 per cent. The retiring Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mervyn Taylor, dropped in for a short while to show his support for colleague Eamonn Walsh, who failed to keep his seat. "We did not lose for want of work," said Mr Walsh. "It was something else. If it was about what we got for the constituency, we would have topped the poll. Perhaps I am being a bit cynical but I wonder what you have to do to keep a seat." It was probably no consolation to him that the PD leader described him as "one of the gentlemen of Irish politics".
In Fianna Fail rumblings of discontent surfaced between the camps of the newly elected TD Conor Lenihan and the defeated Colm McGrath.
There were illegal ions of dirty tricks and workers in the McGrath camp complained that the young Fianna Failer had been "parachuted in" over the councillor, who had been "born and bred and done the slog".
Mr Lenihan said the best way to describe the relationship between himself and Mr McGrath was as one of "creative tension", with a "friendly rivalry".
