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Newly-elected Senator Mairia Cahill rules out running for the Dáil

Newly-elected Senator Mairia Cahill is ruling out a Dáil bid following her election to Sea...
Newstalk
Newstalk

06.35 13 Nov 2015


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Newly-elected Senator Mairia C...

Newly-elected Senator Mairia Cahill rules out running for the Dáil

Newstalk
Newstalk

06.35 13 Nov 2015


Share this article


Newly-elected Senator Mairia Cahill is ruling out a Dáil bid following her election to Seanad Éireann.

The anti-abuse campaigner was elected for Labour on the first count to take the seat of Jimmy Harte, who resigned his seat in September.

The Belfast woman ran a campaign where she refused to give interviews or participate in debates over her previous involvement in a dissident Republican group.

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Ms Cahill says she wants people to judge her on her future in the Seanad, rather than a mistake she made in the past.

In all, 225 TDs and Senators had the right to vote, but 17 did not exercise that right - meaning a total poll of 208.

But of those 208, nine either failed to fill out the identity forms correctly or did not return that part of the paperwork, so their votes did not count.

A further 11 votes were spoiled - five of them contained something other than the preferences, and six did not have the number 1 written on them.

That left 188 votes, or a quota of 95. Ms Cahill won 122 votes on the first count and was deemed elected.

Newstalk.com's political correspondent Páraic Gallagher spoke to Lunchtime earlier. 


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