This article is from page 12 of the 2011-05-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
CLARE has six members of the Oireachtas, but it could have been an unprecedented eight, after the election count for the 25th Seanad concluded in Dublin on Friday.
Both Cllr John Crowe (FG) and Declan Kelleher (IND) were just edged out in their bid to join Senators Tony Mulcahy and Martin Conway in the Upper House.
For Sixmilebridgeman Cllr Crowe, it was another agonising defeat, five years after he was edged out in his first national election when contesting the Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.
Cllr Crowe polled 36,000 first preference votes and, after a mammoth count, was eliminated after the 32nd count when his vote stood at 82,149.
“If he had got three more transfers, Cllr Crowe would have lasted to the 33rd count and then the votes of Labour’s Joe Leydon’s would have elected him,” Cllr Joe Arkins told The Clare People .
“I’m disappointed not to be elected,” admitted Cllr Crowe. “I put in a good campaign and just came up short. It was very close but I’m proud of the performance,” he added.
Meanwhile, Corofin National School principal Declan Kelleher was edged out for one of the four seats on the National University of Ireland Panel.
Mr Kelleher, who was the INTObacked candidate for the election, re- ceived 3,771 votes in the first count, but missed out after the 25th count after he had amassed 5,410 votes.
“I needed about 700 more first preference votes and then a good transfer to get elected,” reflected Mr Kelleher afterwards.
“There were three seats and 27 candidates in the running for them and there was always the chance that I would come fourth out of 27 and just miss out. That’s what happened.
“I was disadvantaged in being a candidate from the west, because there were only 2,000 NUI votes in Clare, while there were 33,000 in Dublin.
“However, I learned an awful lot by contesting the race and I am delighted that I did so,” he added.