Ahern Re-elected as Sinn Fein Wins Five Seats in Dail

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 20, 2002

Ahern Re-elected as Sinn Fein Wins Five Seats in Dail

Two former IRA volunteers will sit in the Irish Parliament after Sinn Fein's growth as a political force in Westminster and Stormont was repeated in the Republic Sunday.

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Two former IRA volunteers will sit in the Irish Parliament after Sinn Fein's growth as a political force in Westminster and Stormont was repeated in the Republic Sunday.

Martin Ferris, a convicted IRA gunrunner and an alleged member of the Provisionals�� seven-man ruling Army Council, dedicated his victory to his dead comrades after topping the poll in the remote constituency of North Kerry.

In the process he ousted Dick Spring, the former Labour Party leader and one of Ireland��s most popular politicians. Mr Ferris was one of five Sinn Fein candidates elected after Friday��s general election, which took Bertie Ahern��s ruling Fianna Fail to within two seats of becoming the first party to command an overall majority in the Irish Republic since 1977.

With final results declared in 39 out of 42 constituencies, Fianna Fail had increased its number of seats by seven to 80 and looked on course to win a further two seats, leaving it tantalisingly close to an outright majority.

The party��s junior coalition partners, the Progressive Democrats, the Green Party and Sinn Fein, emerged as the other major winners at the expense of Fine Gael, the main opposition party, which had 54 seats in the last Dail. Michael Noonan, Fine Gael��s leader, resigned after his party��s meltdown left some of Ireland��s best-known politicians out in the cold. By Sunday night it had polled 31 seats as the public turned their backs on the traditional voting patterns that have defined the political landscape and separated Fine Gael and Fianna Fail since the early 1920s.

Gerry Adams hailed Sinn Fein��s performance as an emphatic endorsement of its role in the Northern Ireland peace process. In Tralee, Co Kerry, the mood was jubilant after Mr Ferris��s victory.

Mr Ferris served ten years in jail after being caught on board the Marita Ann in 1984, attempting to bring seven tonnes of arms into Ireland.

Supporters waving Irish flags hoisted Mr Ferris and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein��s Education Minister in the Stormont Assembly, on to their shoulders as they danced in celebration.

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