David Norris re-elected to Seanad on fourth count

The three University of Dublin Seanad seats are likely to be filled by the incumbents

David Norris has been re-elected to the University of Dublin constituency of the Seanad on the fourth count.

Norris received a total of 3,768 votes out of a total valid poll of 15,041, which exceeded the quota by seven votes, Provost Patrick Prendergast, the returning officer, announced.

The count is taking place in the Dargan Theatre in the Trinity Business School.

The three University of Dublin Seanad seats are likely to be filled by the incumbents. Ivana Bacik is also likely to be re-elected. She currently has 3,571 votes after the fourth count. Current senator Lynn Ruane follows with 2,870 votes.

Hugo MacNeill, the retired rugby player and former director of Goldman Sachs, is in fourth place with 2,133 votes. In fifth is Tom Clonan, a retired Irish army captain, lecturer and security analyst, with 1,492 votes. William Priestly follows with 1,175 votes.

The other four candidates – Joseph O’Gorman, Abbas Ali O’Shea, Derek Byrne and Keith Scanlon – have all been eliminated. Byrne and Ali O’Shea were eliminated first, followed by O’Gorman and then Scanlon.

Norris was first elected to the Seanad in 1987 and will now serve his ninth term in the Seanad. Bacik, a Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity’s Law School, was first elected in 2007. Lynn Ruane was elected to the Seanad in 2016 while serving as Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) president.

Aisling Grace

Aisling Grace was the Editor-in-Chief of the 66th Volume of Trinity News. She was also formerly Online Editor and Deputy News Editor.