Cootehill man loses bye-election
RAY McAdam, the Lord Mayor of Dublin who originally comes from Cootehill, was unsuccessful in his bid to become the next Fine Gael TD for Dublin Central at the weekend and hold the seat for the party.
The bye-election was called to fill the seat left vacant by former Finance Minister and Fine Gael TD Paschal Donohoe who has left Ireland to work for the World Bank in Washington.
In the end, Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats took the seat with 4,903 votes. His closest rival, Janice Boylan of Sinn Féin received 4,348.
After the top two contenders, numbers took a significant dip although the Green Party’s Janet Horner is likely pleased to come third on 2,907 votes. Still, she managed less than 100 votes more than Gerry Hutch who received 2,817 votes. Ray McAdam’s tally was 2,659 votes or 10.7 per cent of the total 25,045 votes cast.
Following his bye-election defeat, Mr McAdam said that being a government party in a bye-election can prove “difficult” battle but he’s optimistic for his future prospects.
“We have to show the people of Dublin Central and indeed the young people of the country that the central ground can still hold and that, ultimately,the central ground can deliver.”
In the past, the 42-year-old son of Anne and Pat McAdam from Cootehill said: “Fine Gael has always been in my blood.”
His mother, Anne (née Clarke), is from New Line in Cootehill, where her family were very involved in hurling and camogie, as well as politics.
His maternal great-grandfather, James (‘Jemmy’) Clarke, was one of the founders of the first Fine Gael cumann in Cootehill in the 1930s.
From 2005 to 2009, Ray served as Parliamentary Assistant to Paschal Donohoe.
Mr McAdam has lived in the capital for the past 25 years and is married to Niamh. Together they have one son.
He has been a Dublin City Councillor since 2009 and, last year, Cllr McAdam became the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin. It wasn’t to be this time out for the Cavan man who grew up on the border in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, but has made Dublin his home since he first attended Trinity College Dublin 2022.
Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats how takes the seat and joins fellow Dub and Soc Dem TD, Gary Gannon, as half of the TDs representing Dublin Central.
In Galway West, meanwhile, Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne won the seat vacated by President Catherine Connolly after he leapfrogged Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas on the 11th and final count.