GE2024: Dempsey 'honoured and privileged' to be elected Meath West's first female TD

Fianna Fáil's Aisling Dempsey made history on Saturday when she became the first female TD to be elected in Meath West having finished 700 votes clear of Fine Gael's Linda Nelson Murray in a closely fought contest.

Dempsey was elected on the fifth count without reaching the quota and her election returns a Dáil seat to Trim for the first time since her father, former minister Noel Dempsey, stepped down from politics in 2011 after 24 years as a TD.

Speaking after her election, the first time candidate said: "I'm absolutely delighted and really honoured and privileged to be here and I'm just really looking forward to the challenge now".

Her success also sees Fianna Fáil win back the seat that it lost in the constituency in 2020 when sitting TD Shane Cassells lost out to Fine Gael's Damien English.

Dempsey reclaimed the seat for the party after polling 17 per cent, just one per cent more than rival Nelson Murray and while there was just 300 to 400 votes between them throughout, more of Independent councillor Noel French's transfers stayed in Trim than went to his former party's candidate Nelson Murray to put her ahead by 700 votes on the last count.

Dempsey was delighted to be elected and was particularly delighted to make history by becoming the first female TD in Meath West, which has been male dominated since it first came into being in 2007.

"I'm really, really just thrilled about it. It's a conversation that myself and Linda Nelson Murray had many times about just hoping that one of us would get there. That we just felt, we needed that representation, of the female, of the mother, at that level, so I'm really pleased."

From the tallies and first count it looked good for Dempsey and she said she was positive but not confident about her chances throughout the count.

During the day, Dempsey left for a couple of hours to attend the reposal of her great aunt Kitty Byrne from Boardsmill who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 102- but not before she had cast her postal ballot for Aisling, who won the postal vote. Dempsey told how her great aunt Kitty was the last of her granny's family and had always closely followed her father Noel's political career and kept clippings and she would have to see if she had started doing the same for her yet.

As the waiting game continued throughout the day, Aisling herself was well familiar with the count process, long before she entered politics five years ago.

"It was a very long drawn out, very boring process as a child to be sitting in a count centre, I remember it going on much longer hours than this. It has been a roller coaster, and Noel says this is much harder for him, than his own elections were as well, so yes, it's tense."

While canvassing began in earnest once the klaxon was finally sounded three weeks previously, Aisling and Noel had been hitting the doorsteps as far back as mid September and the ground that was covered is something she feels really made the difference in getting her over the line. She paid tribute to the whole Fianna Fáil organisation and also thanked the people who once canvassed for her father who came back out and all the new people and those in Ogra Fianna Fail as well. "We had a huge team and huge amount of volunteers and effort.

"We covered loads of ground, we covered more ground than Noel would have covered in any of his campaigns. We knocked more doors, than ever has been done by Fianna Fáil in this area before and I do think that's what has made the difference."

Dempsey said the reception was really positive on the doorsteps which she found worrying at times and wondered if it meant there was too much apathy out there. However she said people did engage, even more than they did six months ago in the locals and they got the real issues coming up again and again like housing, education and disability.

"We heard lots of people saying, no other candidate have come here, and we heard lots of people saying, social media isn't going make it for you and it doesn't. It's an extra and it can do something for you, but there's nothing like getting out and meeting the people and I think that's what we did to our benefit."