Paul Hosford: The centre holds, and it seems the centre left will too
While much of the focus of a good day for government parties was on the main opposition party’s fortunes, there were stories emerging for the other parties of the opposition benches across the country.
Labour
For Labour, there was a major headline in the performance of one of its seven TDs — Aodhán Ó Ríordáin — in the Dublin European constituency.
That Mr Ó Ríordáin was in contention for a seat late on Sunday was not a complete shock, but it was not a given that he would be in the shakeup when voting opened on Friday morning.
A possible seat in Europe
Party members have long rued the lack of a Labour voice in Europe and Mr Ó Ríordáin was the only major candidate to pin his European colours to the mast and carried the logo of the Party of European Socialists (PES) on his posters.
But it wasn’t just the Dublin constituency that had those in Labour feeling buoyant as the party turned in a strong showing in some of its most important councils and looked poised to marginally increase its first share vote and council representation.
In Dublin, the party held on to seats on all four local authorities and looked set to return five councillors in the northern part of Fingal, the area covered by sitting TD and a man tipped to be a future party leader, Duncan Smith.
Tipperary, Cork, and Wexford
In Tipperary, former leader Alan Kelly’s home turf, the party grew its seats from one to three. And in Galway, the first ever Black councillor was elected when Helen Ogbu was elected in City East.
In Cork, the party held out hope on Sunday evening for a few candidates who could join John Maher on Cork City Council.
Crucially for Labour, one councillor wasn’t just elected, but he topped the poll. George Lawlor has long been tipped as the natural successor to Brendan Howlin in Wexford. Mr Howlin himself was the successor to the man he was named after, Brendan Corish.
Since 1922, the party has represented Wexford at Dáil level for all but five years, that gap coming between Mr Corish’s vacating the seat in 1982 and Mr Howlin winning it in 1987.
Poll-topper
Mr Lawlor topped the poll in Wexford town and will consider himself in good stead for the next general election, which has begun to loom ever closer.
Arriving at the RDS on Saturday, party leader Ivana Bacik said that the party had run a constructive campaign built on the work of local representatives and that this had resonated with the public.
“I think the reality is for Labour that we have we’re a party of deep roots and green shoots and our deep roots are really embedded in committed, dedicated councillors and local area representatives who work so hard in their communities across the country, and that hard work and commitment has been rewarded by the electorate,” she said.
We are delighted in Labour to see positive signs across the country.
"We ran a lot of new candidates and we were delighted at how strong the campaigns were that we ran.”
Social Democrats
Meanwhile, the Social Democrats will have taken some joy in some of its performances, even if a major electoral breakthrough remains elusive.
On Sunday evening, the party looked to have added to their first-preference vote and sources said that they were hopeful of adding to the 22 councillors the party has.
In Rush-Lusk in north Dublin, the party’s Paul Mulville was elected above two Fianna Fáil candidates, a bloody nose for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien.
But is it the boon that either party was hoping for under new leaders Holly Cairns and Ivana Bacik?
Arguably, Labour will be the happier of the two, with the Social Democrats’ mood set to be decided by the fate of a number of seats still being counted.
If the centre held, so did the centre-left. It will not head off a discussion of a merger, but it may be enough to delay it.
