General Election: Aontú’s Mary T Sweeney pleased at transfer to 100% Redress

Aontú candidate Mary T Sweeney has expressed her pleasure at the huge transfer of her vote to the 100% Redress Party.

Eliminated on the 11th count, she said was happy with her party’s performance and the work done in the constituency in the last five years. 

The Letterkenny-based candidate’s first preferences increased from 2,382 in 2020 to 2,469. While she said she was not disappointed with her result, she “would like to have done better”.

“We are flat to the mat and most people think I am elected as a councillor already because I am active on the ground,” she said.

“The workload is very high. We do what we can.”

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The transfer of 1,318 votes to the 100% Redress Party after her elimination was part of a deliberate strategy, she said.

“One of the greatest satisfactions for me is that the people who used me for a channel for their vote…it was imperative that we took those 1,300 plus votes  to transfer them for the 100% Redress Party. 

“The sad thing about it is that Government ministers who will potentially be reelected have been told about it from the start and they are still not coming up with full commitment.”

She thanked her “very small but very dedicated team” but criticised the decision to call the election with “a  three-week window”, which she said worked against smaller parties. “It really was done to favour the large parties.”