Senator Elisha McCallion says COVID-19 is first priority after tight Senate victory

The former Derry mayor, MLA and MP was formally elected to the upper house of the Oireachtas in the early hours of Friday morning.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be elected to the Seanad and to be joining the biggest Sinn Féin electoral team across the island of Ireland.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to ensure that the people of the North have another voice in the Oireachtas standing up for their interests.

“Our immediate priority is dealing with the ongoing public health emergency and taking steps to protect the public right across the island and to stop the spread of COVID-19,” she said.

Despite topping the poll on the first count of the election to the Industrial and Commercial Panel the Derry Sinn Féin activist had to wait until the 31st count at the Printworks at Dublin Castle before she was formally elected on Friday.

The Derry politician was the only Sinn Féin candidate in a 35 strong field that included 15 members of Fine Gael and seven members of Fianna Fáil, all of whom transferred strongly along party lines as the count progressed.

Senator McCallion topped the poll on the first count with 95,000 votes, 7,000 votes ahead of the nearest challenger Niall Ó Tuathail of the Social Democrats, with the quota was 113,501. However, it took 31 counts before the erstwhile Derry mayor was elected.

She received only 4000 transfers over the course of the entire count - 1,000 from Fine Gael’s Tom Sheahan and 3,000 from Mr. Ó Tuathail.

While Senator McCallion was guaranteed a seat when Ó’Tuathail was eliminated after stage 30 she had to wait for the distribution of his transfers to be formally elected.

She eventually took the ninth and final seat on the vocational panel finishing on 99,000 votes.

Prior to Mr. Ó Tuathail’s elimination Senator McCallion had been in a tight battle for the last seat. At stage 30 the former Foyle MP, on 96,000 votes, was narrowly ahead of Meath independent and former Fianna Fáil member Sharon Keogan (94,144) and Mr. Tuathail (93,000). Immediately after being elected she called for support for cross-border workers affected by the coronavirus emergency.

“This is an unprecedented crisis and the necessary steps taken will undoubtedly have an impact on the lives of workers, families and local business. It’s vital that protections already put in place, including financial support for cross-border workers, are made available to workers who live in the north.”