NUI PANEL:OUTGOING SENATOR Ronan Mullen has topped the poll in the first count for the election of three members of Seanad Éireann on the National University of Ireland panel.
The socially conservative former spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin was first elected to the Upper House in the last general election in 2007.
On that occasion, he narrowly secured the third and last seat, behind sitting members Joe O’Toole and Feargal Quinn, and edged out Labour senator Brendan Ryan.
The second-highest number of first preferences on the NUI panel in this election has been received by newcomer John Crown, a consultant oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, who secured 4,703 votes.
Prof Crown was closely followed by outgoing Senator Feargal Quinn with 4,591 votes. In fourth place came former president of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, Declan Kelleher, with 3,771 first preferences.
No candidate was elected and the quota is 8,458. The counting continues today at the Serpentine Hall in the Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, with NUI chancellor and former TD Maurice Manning as returning officer.
Former president of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, Bernadine O’Sullivan, secured 2,028 first preferences, and former Teachers’ Union of Ireland chief, Paddy Healy, received 947 votes on the first count.
NUI Galway law lecturer Donncha O’Connell, who is a Labour Party member but ran as an Independent, secured 1,629 first preferences. Sinn Féin research analyst Eoin Ó Broin received 490 votes.
Longtime observers were predicting last night that the three seats would go to Senators Mullen and Quinn and to Prof Crown, who would be joining the Upper House for the first time, although there was a “health warning” that Mr Kelleher’s chances should not be discounted as yet.
Prof Crown has pledged that, if elected, he will devote his entire Seanad salary to cancer research. A consultant oncologist with St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, he ran on a platform of political reform and offered “fresh thinking, new abilities, and a different perspective” in the Oireachtas.
Stressing his “solid track record of professional achievement and of public advocacy”, he described himself as “an early public whistleblower” on deficiencies in Ireland’s cancer services and “a consistent advocate for reform of our health system”.
Mr Quinn was first elected to the Seanad in 1993. In his campaign he told electors the Upper House had an “important role” in providing a “brake” on the power of the Dáil.
“It needs fundamental reform to ensure it is more representative of the wider population. Any such reform should allow the opinions and expertise of different voices, especially those from the business and voluntary sectors, to be heard,” he said.
He is opposed to abolition: “The new Dáil should not be given a free reign to introduce legislation at will that impacts on you, the citizen, without proper scrutiny.”
Senator Mullen has been a strong proponent of the “right to life” of the unborn and he vociferously opposed the Civil Partnership Bill, finding himself accused of a “filibuster” by supporters of the legislation. He denied the filibuster claim.
In September 2010 Mullen introduced the first Private Members’ Motion in the Oireachtas dedicated to the issue of hospice care. He is a first cousin of newly elected Fine Gael Senator Michael Mullen, from Ballinasloe, Co Galway, who was elected on the Cultural and Educational Panel.
Senator Mullen has also highlighted the need for protection of victims of human trafficking and support for improved end-of-life care in hospitals.
