What would 'Dev' do?
Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley elected in final count.
The Celt started a conversation with Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley but had to cut it short almost immediately, 30 seconds in, when Local Election Returning Officer Lynda McGavigan approached the speaker's podium just after 8pm on Sunday to share the results of the sixth and final count and the distribution of Sinn Féin Damien Brady’s surplus. Along with Feeley himself it saw fellow party member Patricia Walsh and Fine Gael's Niamh Brady elected, albeit at the expense of Ballyconnell's Peter McVitty.
He'd known, or the indications at least, were that Feeley was safe for some time. Though more than quarter (25.74%) down on the first preference vote he got in 2019, the solicitor by trade picked up who life-sustaining chunks of transferable votes from running mate Áine Smith's surplus (+109) and following the elimination of Liam van der Spek, Aontú's Tinko Tinev, the Green Party's Kevin Murphy and Independent Susuana Komolafe in Count 3 (+99).
“'Dev' in his last presidential election won by a very narrow margin of victory, a young Tomas O'Higgins almost beat him, and he was asked about the result. He said back to them 'Its always better to win by a narrow margin than to lose by it'. At the end of it all, it doesn't matter which seat you get, you're elected one of six and everyone in the chamber has the vote and role to play. Everyone's objective in an election is to get that last seat.”
Its no surprise to hear Feeley quote the former head of government and head of state. His son Éamon, in the arms of mum Niamh, was started by the sudden uproar and commotion with the election of Feeley, Walsh, and Brady, all without reaching the quota of 1,431.
That morning the din was created by his mother Patsy banging pots and pans around the house, such was her humour and the prospect that her son my lose the seat held by his later father Eddie, which he was first co-opted onto in 2007, and was in place for 22 years before that. “She takes politics very serious.”
Feeley has now successful contested four elections in his own right. He says that precursors to a possible downfall in the ballots is being told, and a “kiss of death” in the run up to an election, is to be told you're a “favourite” or a guaranteed seat.
Making matters more difficult is his geographical positioning on the furthermost outcrop within the constituency. “But that's what you deal have to deal with, and that's politics. As I always say you start every election with one vote and that's your own.”