2014 Dublin South-West by-election

A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Dublin South-West constituency in Ireland on Friday, 10 October 2014,^[1] following the election of Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) Brian Hayes to the European Parliament.^[2]

2014 Dublin South-West by-election

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Keane Nominee Paul Murphy Cathal King Cáit Keane Party Anti-Austerity Alliance Sinn Féin Fine Gael First preferences 6,540 7,288 2,110 Percentage 27.2% 30.3% 8.8% Final count 9,565 8,999 –   McMahon Kearns Nominee Ronan McMahon Pamela Kearns John Lahart Party Independent Labour Fianna Fáil First preferences 2,142 2,043 2,077 Percentage 8.9% 8.5% 8.6% Final count – – –   Burke Coules Nominee Declan Burke Nicky Coules Francis Noel Duffy Party Independent People Before Profit Green First preferences 681 530 447 Percentage 2.8% 2.2% 1.9% Final count – – –

Dublin South-West shown within County Dublin

TD before election Brian Hayes Fine Gael Elected TD Paul Murphy Anti-Austerity Alliance

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011 stipulates that a by-election in Ireland must be held within six months of a vacancy occurring.^[3] The Roscommon–South Leitrim by-election was held on the same date.

Paul Murphy of the Anti-Austerity Alliance was elected on the eighth count.^[4] Murphy's victory came as a surprise as Sinn Féin had performed extremely well in local elections the previous May, winning 50.3% of the first preference vote in the Tallaght South LEA and 32% in the Tallaght Central LEA,^[5][6] and were widely predicted to win the seat.^[7][8][9] Murphy largely campaigned on the issue of Irish Water, stating that Sinn Féin could not be trusted to oppose water charges. In the wake of a poor local election result, Labour and Fine Gael were not considered contenders for the seat while Fianna Fáil largely focused its resources on the Roscommon–South Leitrim by-election.^[10]

Murphy's victory brought the issue of water charges to the forefront of political debate in the run-up to the 2016 general election, and contributed to a shift in Sinn Féin's position to one of outright opposition.^[11]

Result

2014 Dublin South–West by-election^[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	Cathal King	30.3	7,288	7,304	7,340	7,448	7,580	7,828	8,017	8,999
	Anti-Austerity Alliance	Paul Murphy	27.2	6,540	6,579	6,622	6,890	7,079	7,436	7,726	9,565
	Independent	Ronan McMahon	8.9	2,142	2,167	2,227	2,265	2,464	3,049	3,416
	Fine Gael	Cáit Keane	8.8	2,110	2,117	2,194	2,203	2,267	2,575	3,857
	Fianna Fáil	John Lahart	8.6	2,077	2,085	2,138	2,152	2,200
	Labour	Pamela Kearns	8.5	2,043	2,053	2,155	2,170	2,239	2,492
	Independent	Declan Burke	2.8	681	711	746	818
	People Before Profit	Nicky Coules	2.2	530	540	554
	Green	Francis Noel Duffy	1.9	447	453
	Independent	Tony Rochford	0.4	92
	Independent	Colm O'Keeffe	0.3	74
Electorate: 70,400   Valid: 24,024   Spoilt: 256 (1.1%)   Quota: 12,013   Turnout: 24,280 (34.5%)

See also

• 2014 Roscommon–South Leitrim by-election
• List of Dáil by-elections
• Dáil constituencies