A swift result in a gentlemanly contest

The speed at which the votes were counted at today’s by-election is a true testament to the efficiency of Tipperary’s election officials.It had little to do with the county’s crucial Munster final hurling clash with Limerick. The counting was done and dusted shortly before 4 p.m. The match kicked off at 4.20 p.m.

Hayes’s margin of victory is certainly good news for Fine Gael and in particular party leader Michael Noonan on his electoral debut as leader. No doubt the party will make much of its nine per cent increase on last year’s by-election result. However, what might be more significant from the opposition’s point of view is the fact that Fianna Fail have now lost six by-elections in a row.Fianna Fail failed to improve significantly on last year’s disastrous showing, increasing their vote by less than four per cent.

Not that the Labour Party had anything to smile about. Their vote was down 4.4 per cent on last year.

The Workers and Unemployed Actions Group’s candidate was never likely to take the seat from Fianna Fail, but the group certainly seemed to be in command of the left vote. Philomena Prendergast’s second place was a strong performance and certainly bodes well for the group’s sitting TD in next year’s election.

Much was made this week of the TG4/MRBI poll and how it affected the result. Fianna Fail complained that it had had a negative effect on their vote but in reality it was probably the Labour vote which suffered most with many voters perceiving Prendergast as the only real challenger on the left.

Being packed into a sports hall in Clonmel on the hottest day of the year was less off-putting than the politeness and lack of acrimony between the candidates. Indeed this has been a hallmark of the campaign. In his election-winning speech Hayes effusive in his praise for his rivals. He even complimented Ms Prendergast on the glamour she had brought to the campaign. He spoke of his good friend Michael McGuire (Fianna Fail candidate) and praised Labour’s Landy on his debating qualities.

In turn his rivals praised Hayes. They all said he would make an excellent TD. Landy said the election had been fought on the issues rather than on the personalities. It was all a little too cosy for this reporter.

It’s lucky this country has Northern Ireland to remind us how politics once was.

The experiment to hold the election on a Saturday seemed to have paid little dividend with turnout only fractionally up on last year’s at 58.6 per cent.