Comments on: Alex White Topping Seanad Cultural and Educational Poll, A Tale of Two Pacts?

By: Paddy Matthews

Paddy Matthews — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:20:44 +0000

Correction – those elected were:

White (Lab) 7th count
Twomey (FG) 12th count
Keaveney (FF) 14th count
Ó Murchú (FF) 14th count
Ormonde (FF) 14th count without reaching quota.

Although Slowey (FG) had more votes than Ormonde (FF) on the final count, Ormonde was elected because no more than three candidates can be elected from the Oireachtas sub-panel (the light blue lines on the spreadsheet) and White, Twomey and Keaveney had already been elected, and meaning that Slowey was ineligible for election.

By: Cian

Cian — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:49:07 +0000

I know you were and right to be, this could be a nothing in the grand scheme of things, and I am not great at making predictions!

Still a history with the PDL would be amazing, perpetual government for a party of the margins on all sides!

By: Daithí

Daithí — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:25:43 +0000

Ah, I guess so. I was just being cheeky. They should have merged, though. The PDL Party.

By: Cian

Cian — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:15:30 +0000

considering that following that DL ended up in power when in 92 they were untouchable to FG I would argue yes.

i mean symbolic in that it alters the way the various parties appraise each other. While FG were also forced into a partnership with DL out of numbers, one can point to institutional shifts such as PD/DL as a factor in easing that path

By: Daithí

Daithí — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:08:57 +0000

Really? Was the very similar pact between the PDs and Democratic Left in the 1990s a symbolic shift?

By: Cian

Cian — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:54:17 +0000

Alex White is a little unremarkable, he ran and failed to get elected in Dublin South in May.

what is newsworthy is the fact that Labour councillors and Sinn Fein councillors entered a pact to get both White and Pearse Doherty elected in different panels. White’s success suggests that the pact held up and we may well see Sinn Fein succeed too.

That, to my mind, is a huge symbolic shift in irish politics which will likely open doors over the coming five years.

By: Dermot

Dermot — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:50:16 +0000

Who’s Alex White ? I never heard of him.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:57:35 +0000

quota (around 175)
Says it all about the Seanad really