Longford councillor loses out narrowly in bid to win Seanad nomination

Longford's Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi has narrowly failed in her bid to win a Fianna Fáil Seanad nomination.

The party held an internal Seanad Bye-Election vote on Monday evening for the Industrial and Commercial Panel and Gerry Horkan emerged as the nominee.

Also read: It is time for a more ethnically diverse Oireachtas – Adejinmi

He previously served as a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from April 2016 to March 2020.

Addressing a Fianna Fáil party meeting a number of weeks ago during her campaign to win the nomination, Cllr Adejinmi, who was co-opted onto Longford County Council following the 2020 general election success of Joe Flaherty, used a memorable line: “Adejinmi is not a common Irish name but nor were de Valera, Lemass nor Marckievicz”.

Breakdown of result of @fiannafailparty by-election
Really tight final count ahead for FF Seanad nominee
Elimination of Feeney
Adejinmi 13 + 5 =18
Horkan 18 + 2 = 20
O’Mahoney 17 + 2 = 19

Horkan wins!

— Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) February 15, 2021

Fianna Fail count online to select their Seanad candidate tonight. First count: Adejinmi 10
Feeney 5
Horkan 12
Murphy O’Mahony 10
Moynihan 4
Sheridan 2
O’Keeffe 6
Gilligan 4
McInerney 2
Sheehan 2

— Declan Varley (@declanvarley) February 15, 2021