The three-seat constituency of Dublin North West was one of the epicentres, in 2020, of the Sinn Fein earthquake, when the party polled 44.4% of the vote and stalwart TD Dessie Ellis topped the poll with not far off two quotas. Had the party only had the foresight to run two candidates on that occasion, a second seat was not guaranteed – but it certainly was not out of the question. As it was, Ellis sat high atop his mountain of votes during the count and was able to look on in a relaxed fashion as everybody else scrabbled desperately along the cliff-edge of elimination beneath him.
In the end, the casualty was Fine Gael’s Noel Rock, almost universally regarded as one of the most gregarious and affable and capable members of the 2016-2020 Dáil. He lost out to Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe, while the Social Democrats took the other of the available seats to make it 1SF, 1FF, and 1 Soc Dem.
This article is premium content
Get unlimited access to Gript
Support Gript and get exclusive content, full archives and an ad-free experience
Subscribe
Already a member? Sign in here