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Paul Lawless celebrating his win this evening Aontú
DOUBLE DOUBLE
'A historic result': Aontú wins second seat with Paul Lawless elected in Mayo
His win will come as a coup to Tóibín who has been the party’s sole representative in Dáil Éireann for the last five years.
PEADÁR TÓIBÍN WILL be joined in the Dáil this term with at least one other Aontú TD, following Paul Lawless’s election in Mayo yesterday evening.
Lawless took the last seat in the Mayo five-seater, joining Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway Walsh, Fine Gael’s Alan Dillon, Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary and Fine Gael’s Keira Keogh.
His win will come as a coup to Tóibín who has been the party’s sole representative in Dáil Éireann for the last five years.
Reacting to his party colleague’s win on X, Tóibín said: “This is a historic result for Aontú”.
We put Paul in the Dáil!! Our first TD in Mayo. #AontúMomentum pic.twitter.com/FJosC0FwHQ
— Peadar Tóibín TD (@Toibin1) December 1, 2024
In a second post, he wrote: “A new candidate from a new party winning a Dáil seat is not easy. Winning 93,000 votes is not easy. Taking on the political establishment in referendums and election campaigns is not easy.
“Our growing membership should feel very proud of these fantastic achievements.”
Lawless received 4,482 first preference votes, and was elected on count 11 with 9,506 votes. In June of this year, he was elected as a councillor to Mayo county council. He previously ran unsuccessfully in the local elections in 2020.
Also elected in the constituency were Rose Conway-Walsh (SF), Alan Dillon (FG), Dara Calleary (FF), and Keira Keogh (FG).
@1PaulLawless takes the final seat in Mayo and becomes @AontuIE ‘s 2nd ever TD#GE24 #GeneralElection2024 pic.twitter.com/71j7sesVFZ
— Mid West Radio (@radiomidwest) December 1, 2024
Party leader Peadár Tóibín was returned as a TD in Meath West on the fifth count, receiving the second highest number of first preference votes in the constituency.
The party was in contention for a seat in Cavan-Monaghan with Sarah O’Reilly in the running to take the last seat there but she was ultimately beaten by Independent Gillian Toole.
In Meath East, Aontú candidate Emer Tóibín was eliminated in count 13. She received 3,281 first preference votes, placing her fifth in the four-seater constituency. Helen McEntee of Fine Gael topped the poll in Meath East and was elected on count 5.
With reporting by Emma Hickey
An earlier version of this article stated that Lawless was 27 years of age as is listed on the Aontú website. This information is incorrect, Lawless is 32 years of age.
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