West Cork gets two senators

SITTING Fianna Fáil Senator Denis O’Donovan and Fine Gael Cllr Tim Lombard have both been elected to Seanad Éireann.

Both were nominated by the Munster Agricultural Society and secured enough votes from Cllrs, TDs and senators to win their seats on the Seanad’s Agricultural Panel.

‘There is life in the old dog yet,’ Schull-based Senator Denis O’Donovan told The Southern Star. ‘It is an extraordinary coincidence that two politicians from the same constituency that were nominated by the same organisation were elected to the same panel,’ he said.

And he was pleased to report that he got his ‘best vote ever’ in five elections, having taken the third seat. 

Kinsale-based FG Cllr Tim Lombard said: ‘I am looking forward to putting my vast experience as a dairy farmer to good effect when I take my seat.’ With his elevation to the Senate, the Fine Gael politician’s seat on Cork County Council will be vacated and a member of the party – yet to be named – will be co-opted following a convention in the Bandon/Kinsale district.