Meath East byelection won Fine Gael.

For those intrested in Irish Politics the Meath East byelection has been won . Fine Gael candidate Helen McEntee was elected on the third count. who tqakes the seat after the death of her father Shane McEntee.

Dynasty are a transitional part of Irish politics,

2013 by-election: Meath East[12][10]
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3
	Fine Gael	Helen McEntee	38.5	9,356	9,547	11,473
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne	32.9	8,002	8,106	9,582
	Sinn Féin	Darren O'Rourke	13.0	3,165	3,370
	Direct Democracy Ireland	Ben Gilroy	6.5	1,568	1,793
	Labour Party	Eoin Holmes	4.6	1,112	1,245
	Green Party	Seán Ó Buachalla	1.7	423
	Workers' Party	Seamus McDonagh	1.1	263
	Independent	Mick Martin	0.8	190
	Independent	Charlie Keddy	0.5	110
	Independent	Gerard O'Brien	0.3	73
	Independent	Jim Tallon	0.2	47
Electorate: 64,164   Valid: 24,309   Spoilt: 259   Quota: 12,155   Turnout: 38.3%

The Constituency has 3 TD's elected underr STV at the 201I Shane Mcentee had held his seat and Fine Gael gained an extra seat and Labour the Third. The then ruling Fianna Fail lost its two seats reflecting the swing against them in the General Election throughout the republic,

Party	Leader	First Pref votes	% FPv	Swing%	TDs	Change (since 2007)	% of seats
	Fine Gael	Enda Kenny	801,628	36.1	8.8	76	25	45.8
	Labour Party	Eamon Gilmore	431,796	19.5	9.3	37	17	22.3
	Fianna Fáil[nb 6]	Micheál Martin	387,358	17.5	24.2	20	57	12.0
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	220,661	9.9	3.0	14	10	8.4
	Socialist Party	None	26,770	1.2	0.6	2	2	1.2
	People Before Profit	None	21,551	1.0	0.6	2	2	1.2
	WUAG	Séamus Healy	8,818	0.4	0.1	1	1	0.6
	Green Party	John Gormley	41,039	1.8	2.9	0	6	0

Since then polls, have showed a recovery for Fianaa Fail but not enough to win a General election,

DATE	POLLING AGENCY	FG	LAB	FF	SF	GP	OTH
24/03/13	Red C	28%	13%	24%	14%	-	21%
17/03/13	Millward Brown	25%	9%	29%	20%	-	16%
03/03/13	Millward Brown	24%	11%	23%	21%	-	22%
24/02/13	Red C	28%	12%	26%	16%	2%	16%
17/02/13	Millward Brown	25%	13%	27%	20%	1%	14%
08/02/13	Ipsos MRBI	25%	10%	26%	18%	1%	20%

 Labour, appear to be the Party suffering which seems to reflect the general attitude of voters taking their frustration out on the Junior Partners in a coalition.

The Polls also show a significant rise in support for Sinn Féin but they failed to make any breakthrough votewise in Meat East


However if there was a Irish General Election tomorrow there could possibly be a Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin coalition.

Sinn Féin are in a position tom hold a balance of power.

But with the two main parties Fianna Fáil amd Fine Gael both being Conservative and separated by historical factors rather than Ideology they may choose that joining in a coalition together may be the best way to keep Sinn Féin out of power.


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