TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has said Fine Gael candidate Seán Kyne’s win in the Galway West byelection was “a victory for centrist politics”.
Kyne’s success bucks the trend of government parties struggling to win byelections and maintains the government’s majority.
Harris said it was the work of Kyne, who is a former TD and minister, and his record of “delivery” that convinced voters to back him.
He said that government parties “very rarely win” byelections and said it speaks to the “healthy state” of Fine Gael and of Kyne’s ability that he had prevailed on Sunday.
Harris added that the result had given his party “a mandate to work even harder” and said the two byelection votes combined was the largest vote of any party.
“What I take from this is a small sense of encouragement that people will respond to politics that is about trying to deliver solutions, politics that is trying to not be angry or loud or shouty but actually trying to work hard to deliver,” Harris said in Galway on Sunday.
“I think that’s a victory for centrist politics. I want to lead the centre in Irish politics, I want to make sure the centre holds.”
He said Kyne ran “an absolutely incredible campaign” and said he was “really pleased” with his vote and transfers.
“This has really shown that our party is both at a moment of growth and renewal, that people have really come together, put their shoulder to the wheel, and this can be the outcome when a party pulls together,” he said.
Harris said they had “heard the issues” while out on the canvass and said they would work “even harder for the people of this country”.
He added that he would return to work this week with “a new sense of humility and gratitude”.
“Let me be very clear, because I met these people and I looked them in the eye and I heard them, there’s people who went out and voted for Seán Kyne and there’s people who went out and voted for Ray McAdam, and they’re telling me to make sure we do more and we do better.
“I heard that too. And what do I mean by that? I mean things around the budget.
“People who are working really hard, playing by the rules, still feeling that they’re struggling to get by and not ahead, making sure the tax system works more fairly for them, delivering infrastructure much more quickly, minding the economy at a challenging time – because you can’t take that for granted – supporting businesses, making sure work pays.”
Ray McAdam received the fifth-highest amount of voted in Dublin Central, where Social Democrats councillor Daniel Ennis secured the seat.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said that the results on the byelections were “monumental” for the party.
“These by-election results show that when people are looking for an alternative to the government parties, they are increasingly choosing the Social Democrats,” Cairns said.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Cairns was asked about Sinn Féin’s results in the byelections, and said that the party “may be at a crossroads with a number of issues”.
“That’s a matter for them, but I think they need to figure out where they’re going,” Cairns said.