If it hadn't been for independent candidate Pat Doran, Fianna Fáil might have taken a third seat. The strategy of standing two strong candidates, Dick Roche and local teacher Joe Behan in Bray, with Pat Fitzgerald in the south of the county, was particularly damaging to the opposition.
The party's strong team in Bray mopped up votes on which both Deirdre de Búrca of the Green Party and Labour's Liz McManus had been depending. In the Arklow area Nicky Kelly of Labour was left with just 2,857 first preferences compared with Fitzgerald's 5,029.
Doran, a former Fianna Fáil man from the south of the county, secured 2,841 first preferences, leaving the Fianna Fáil tallymen grumbling that without him, Fitzgerald would have taken the last seat.
Another interesting aspect of the count was the woman-to-woman transfers between Evelyn Cawley, de Búrca and McManus, all of whom live within five miles of one another. Cawley was eliminated after the second count when her vote stood at 2,387. Almost a third - 723 votes - went to de Búrca. When she was eliminated her vote stood at 7,144 and an astonishing 3,440 went to McManus, securing her election.
Roche, Behan and McManus all live in Bray. The remaining two TDs, Billy Timmins from west Wicklow and Andrew Doyle, who stood in the mid-east area, are both from Fine Gael. The two seats returns the party to the heady days of the 1980s when the constituency was represented by Gemma Hussey and Godfrey Timmins, Billy's father.
Overall change: Independent loss, FG gain
Outgoing TDs
Dick Roche FF
Joe Jacob FF
Billy Timmins FG
Liz McManus Lab
Mildred Fox Ind
