Leader of the Labour Party Ivana Bacik has said that her party has seen “really strong results” in the General Election.
The wave behind the Labour Party was not expected to be as powerful as for some of the other smaller parties, but the party was still hoping to make gains in Dublin.
In Dublin Fingal West, Robert O’Donoghue emerged from the final tally in second position, with 16.2% of the first preference votes. However, it was a tight race with two other candidates hovering around the 15% mark, so it was likely to be a close battle for the second and third seats and transfers will be important.
There, a win for Labour would likely come at the expense of outgoing Green TD Joe O’Brien, who looks likely to lose his seat at just 6.2%, according to the same tally.
Meanwhile in Dublin South-West, Labour was also hoping Ciarán Ahern could pick up a seat.
Speaking at the count centre in the RDS this evening, Ms Bacik said that all of her party candidates had demonstrated Labour’s values of “equality, solidarity and fairness” in their electoral campaigns.
“We’ve put forward our vision of the active state, of the state to be back building houses again, delivering public services, delivering for children with disabilities, delivering for families facing eviction, delivering on healthcare, education, childcare and so much more,” she said.
Ms Bacik said that next week, once there is a more solid picture of the Dáil, that her first intention is to speak to political party leaders that share Labour’s visions and values.
“It’s very easy for parties on the left to look at what has happened to the Greens and to say ‘we’re not going into Government’ but that’s not us,” she said.
“We’re serious about delivering change and we want to chart a pathway to do that.”
Meanwhile her party colleague Duncan Smith, who is in contention to retain his seat in Dublin Fingal East, said “it’s a really good day for Labour”.
“For the last ten years, I’ve been in count centres, checking my phone and getting bad news, and today it’s different,” he said.
Regarding the battle for the fourth seat in Dublin Central between Labour’s Marie Sherlock and Independent Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch, Mr Smith said that “there is a path” for her.
“If there’s any sense of justice for hard work, principle, intelligence, and just an unbelievably committed political activist, then there will be a path for Marie Sherlock to take a well deserved Dáil seat,” he said.
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