GE2024: O'Rourke - 'It's our ambition to get bigger and stronger the this county'
"It is our ambition to get bigger and stronger in this county " that was the message from Sinn Fein's Darren O'Rourke after he was re elected to the Dail on Sunday.
O'Rourke took a seat in Meath East on the second day of the count on Sunday. He followed Helen McEntee who was the first to be elected in the constituency on Saturday.
O'Rourke was elected on the 10th count after party colleague Maria White's transfers got him over the line well exceeding the quota with 12,786 votes.
He received 8175 first preference votes coming second to Helen McEntee with 9957 votes and ahead of Thomas Byrne who received 6403 votes.
O'Rourke has been a TD for Sinn Fein since February 2020 in the Meath East constituency when he topped the poll with 24.4 per cent of the first-preference votes, and was elected on the second count.
From 2014 to 2020, he served as a councillor on Meath County Council for the Ashbourne Local Electoral Area.
O'Rourke was previously a policy advisor to Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, originally from Kells, O'Rourke trained in Dublin Institute of Technology and holds a number of master's degrees from Trinity College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was a medical scientist at St James's Hospital in Dublin.
Speaking afterwards, O'Rourke said:
"We are really grateful to everyone who came out and supported us, it was a really tremendous result for Sinn Fein in Meath East and right across Co Meath and really happy to be re elected and looking forward to the work that is ahead of us.
"A very special thanks to Cllr Maria White who ran an excellent campaign and a tremendous transfer that helped us over the line very significantly there."
O'Rourke said the party has grown and developed significantly in the constituency in recent years, something he is committed to continuing and that running a second Sinn Fein candidate was testament to that: He added:
"The last time we took a seat in Meath East is the first time we had ever done it so we have grown and developed as a party in this constituency and this county in recent years.
"Maria was elected in the local elections on a very strong mandate. We had Cllr Fionnan Blake and Cllr Michael Gallagher, Cllr Helen Meyer elected to the council. There were lots of very positive signals in relation to the local elections this year and we took that into the general election campaign and I think clearly we are ahead of the Sinn Fein average, that is the first time that has ever happened in the Meath East constituency.
"Sinn Fein is now the largest party in Co Meath. That is down to the hard work that people have done across the county and across the constituency and we are going to continue to do that.
"It is our ambition to get bigger and stronger in this county on the back of the hard work of our elected representatives."
When asked if having a running mate diluted the vote and contributed to him not topping the poll this time around, O'Rourke said:
"I know enough about politics to know that it isn't about topping the poll, it is about maximising the Sinn Fein vote, presenting that alternative to people in the best possible way and I fully believe it was the right thing to do and without a shadow of a doubt it strengthened Sinn Fein's proposition to the people in Meath East having Cllr Maria White on the ticket and I think that is reflected in the vote that we got.
"I don't think we would have achieved the overall total that we received with just me on the ballot paper."
Commenting on the potential of the status quo being in operation again with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail forming a government, the Sinn Fein TD said:
"We don't know what the make up of the next Dail will be, time will tell in relation to that but we heard it very clear in Meath East and right across the country the housing crisis is there and needs to be addressed. If Fine Gael and Fianna Fail in government are not going to address that we will continue to push and engage with others to try and present an alternative."
A government without Fianna Fail and Fine Gael would give Sinn Fein the greatest opportunity to implement its policy platform according to O'Rourke who said:
"We have said we will engage with everybody but it will absolutely be on the basis of being able to deliver the type of change that people so desperately need. If you look in the Meath East constituency, I don't think the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael combined vote has ever been as low as it is now.
"In my own living memory in this millennium alone where Fianna Fail and Fine Gael took every seat in Co Meath, that doesn't happen anymore because people are looking for an alternative and Sinn Fein will try and deliver that. "