New TDs take seats in Dáil after by-elections
By Cillian Sherlock and Bairbre Holmes, Press Association
The country's newest TDs arrived for work in Leinster House on Tuesday, after closely watched by-elections in Dublin Central and Galway West.
Social Democrats’ representative for Dublin Central Daniel Ennis and Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne were welcomed to the Dáil by their party leaders.
Ennis is a first-time TD while Kyne had previously been a deputy between 2011 and 2020 and had been a senator going into the by-election.
The Social Democrat and former League of Ireland footballer told reporters outside Leinster House: “I will always represent anybody that calls Dublin Central home.”
Ennis said “breaking down the barriers for young people entering sport” would be on his agenda as a TD.
Asked how he would approach issues of migration, he said: “It’s our job to educate and raise awareness around the lies that we’re seeing online about migration, and to challenge the hateful language from some of our senior government ministers now around migration.
“And speak about it – and flip it – and call it integration. I’m pro-integration, I want to bring people into our community.
“And how we do that is through sport, it’s through coffee mornings, it’s through meeting people where they are – and, as I always say, you can’t hate up close.”
His party leader Holly Cairns said the by-elections were a “huge success” for the Social Democrats, with first-time candidate Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich coming fourth in Galway West.
Cairns said: “But today is about Dan and him taking his seat. His success is a testament to him as a person and as a candidate, and it’s an enormously proud day, I know, for him and his fiancée, Chloe, and for his family here to celebrate with them.”
Ennis and Kyne were welcomed to the Dáil chamber with applause after signing the roll of members.
The returning Fine Gael TD said it had been a “gruelling campaign” as he thanked his party colleagues.
Asked about previous comments that he would retire from politics after being unsuccessful in the 2024 general election, Kyne said he had kept his constituency office open since he lost his seat in 2020: “I provided a service in the constituency for anyone that came to me – I did the best I could.”
His party leader Simon Harris said: “And thank god he ran. What was very, very, very clear was the deep respect that was held for Seán Kyne right across the constituency, and that was also very evident in the transfers.”
