Stephen Donnelly had already been re-elected – by Taoiseach's ...

He and Ireland’s oldest general election candidate both ‘won a seat’ in the Taoiseach’s hometown of Greystones.

The Fianna Fáil candidate and 80-year-old Charlie Keddy, whose key priorities were “abortion and dog shite”, were elected in a poll staged in the Taoiseach’s former secondary school.

The St David’s Holy Faith mock election, run by the YSI ‘Get Voting’ team, took place on Thursday, November 28, with staff and students casting their votes in a ballot mirroring the general election.

The mock election aimed to teach young people about the voting system and give them practice for when they are older. And speaking of – it was the country’s oldest candidate who beat the odds and clinched a seat in Simon Harris’s back yard.

Describing the events, St David’s student reporter Zoe Cartmell said: “It was a great success with a 63pc turnout and a total of 529 votes. The students were voting for who they felt would best represent their country in government. And after the fastest count in Greystones history, we had our results at 10:30am.

The results were as follows:

Simon Harris: 38pc elected in the first round Jennifer Whitmore: 24pc, elected in the second round Charlie Keddy: 24pc, elected in the third roundStephen Donnelly: 23pc, elected in the third round

Commenting on the shock win for Charlie, Zoe said: “It seems as if St David’s admired Charlie Keddy’s dedication and determination, as he has gone for election every year since 1985 without ever winning a seat. So, well done to him for gaining his first ever seat.

“It was very tight between John Brady and Stephen Donnelly,” she continued, “with them being tied at one of the final stages of the election. However, Stephen Donnelly gained the fourth and final seat. Overall, it was an action-packed day and taught students the importance of getting out to vote and how to do so. Well done to everyone who came out to vote.”

Back in the real world, the colourful “anti-abortion candidate and nothing else”, was eliminated early on Saturday, at the centre in the nearby Shoreline Leisure complex, when he had secured just 141 votes.

While Mr Donnelly fought a tense battle with the Taoiseach’s running mate Edward Timmins for the fourth and final seat, losing out in the 13th and final count.

Mr Keddy – who in the past has campaigned against water charges and property tax and was opposed to the Marriage Equality Referendum – said he felt compelled to run as “no one else represents my opinions”.

The Kilcoole resident has been standing in every local and general election since 1991 without ever winning a seat.

Speaking ahead of election day, he said “the most important thing for me is to save the unborn baby”, while also pointing to an issue that had become the bane of his quiet rural life in the dog-eat-dog constituency of just four seats – dog shite.

Mr Keddy, who swims two kilometres every morning, has had to go from sea to pool and said that in the past, “a hobby of mine used to be to get the dog shite off my beach”.

"I had a lovely beach, and I could swim, hail, rain or snow all year round. But the dog shite got priority, and the magnificent walkway has been destroyed because of the stink. So I had to pack that in and go to the pool. And don't be afraid to call it dog shite.”