Flash: Dublin govt loses by-elections, SF vote up

The 26-County coalition government suffered a double setback
today following the counting of votes in two by-elections held
on Friday.

The g Fianna Fail party, led by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern,
lost seats to the opposition Fine Gael party and to an
independent candidate.

The result is being seen as a voter attack on the government's
poor performance on local and national issues, including the
peace process.

Despite an unprecedented campaign by Bertie Ahern and his
cabinet to halt growing support for the republican cause and
Sinn Fein, the party saw a significant rise in its share of the
vote.

In Meath, the party's candidate, Joe Reilly, increased his vote to
over 12% from 9% in the 2002 election. Significantly, in the
fourth and final count, Sinn Fein transfers swung away from
Fianna Fail and handed the government its second defeat of the
evening.

In North Kildare, independent candidate Catherine Murphy was
elected on he fifth count, beating Fianna Fail's Aine Brady by
a cledar margin.

The first woman elected to represent her constituency, she vowed
tonight to be a thorn in the side of the Government.

"This sends a very clear message, it's putting this constituency
on the map, there are issues to be sorted out here," Mrs Murphy
said.

She said she would work with her non-party colleagues to force
the government to deliver.

Turnout in both constituencies was low with some 40% of voters
going to the polls in Meath, while estimated 37% cast their
votes in Kildare North.

The two by-elections were called to fill the seats vacated by
the former Taoiseach, John Bruton, and the former Minister for
Finance, Charlie McCreevy.

The following are the count-by-count results of the Meath
by-election:


S CAMPBELL PD 2,679 2,746
S CASSELLS FF 16,117 16,230 17,480 21,178
D HANNIGAN LAB 5,567 5,672 7,061
*S McENTEE FG 16,964 17,083 18,214 24,047
F O'BYRNE GP 1,590 1,744
L o GOGAIN IND 702
J REILLY SF 6,087 6,183 6,514


The following are the count-by-count results of the Kildare
North by-election:


A BRADY FF 6,201 6,255 7,265 8,133 9,818
G BROWNE IND 226
P McNAMARA LAB 4,507 4,545 5,199
*C MURPHY IND 5,985 6,189 7,176 8,809 12,256
S o COISTIN IND 211
JJ POWER GP 1,547 1,621
D SCULLY FG 4,630 4,660 5,382 7,421
K WALSH PD 2,006 2,023