Roscommon-Galway: Murphy concedes defeat

Outgoing Roscommon-Galway TD Eugene Murphy has conceded his Fianna Fáil seat, predicting Sinn Féin’s Claire Kirrane will replace him.

“I’m gutted, utterly gutted, particularly for my kids here, they worked so hard. It’s so emotional,” he said, tears in his eyes.

The former Roscommon County Councillor from Boyle – first elected in 1985 – said he had already started working on a nomination for the Seanad and planned to stand in the next general election.

The Fianna Fáil spokesperson for the Office of Public Works and flood relief said he believes the poor showing for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael was as a result of “the establishment letting the people down”.

“We have to face up to this. The issues with the insurance business, the issues with the beef industry, the absolute chaos in health – and I don’t know how Simon Harris got away with being the minister for health with so little pressure on him.

“Children not having a house or being homeless – it’s a massive issue.

“Confidence and supply [agreement between the parties] for new Fianna Fáil TDs was a disaster – an absolute disaster. And when you couldn’t get real results on health, real results on housing, people saw it as ineffective.

“Okay we did get extra money for the Treatment Purchase Fund but it was minimal – it didn’t really make any difference. The children were still homeless, the homeless figures went up. If confidence and supply was working in any way, they should have been coming down. The beef industry – the farmers got into deeper trouble – nothing really happened from a government perspective.

“I think that cost Fianna Fáil – it’s a bad election for Fianna Fáil.

“There may be a government, but I’d be worried about long-term stability, I really can’t see – we’ll be lucky if we’re not back at the polls in a year or two.”