Three Donegal candidates await lengthy Seanad count

Counting in the Seanad elections gets underway today.
60 seats are up for grabs in the upper house, and they’re broken down into 3 groups.
11 are nominated by the Taoiseach, 43 are elected by a number of panels that represent vocational interests, and 6 are elected by graduates of NUI and Trinity College Dublin
The count is expected to continue until the weekend.
There are three Donegal candidates in the panel race, outgoing Senator Brian O’Domhnaill, a former Taoiseach’s nominee  is seeking to retain his seat on the Agriculture Panel, while Cllr Jimmy Harte is seeking election on the Commercial and Industrial Panel. Also on that panel is Danny Byrne, who lost his father and brother in the Skifjord tragedy in 1981 and made the initial complaint about the subsequent “Lost at Sea” scheme to the Ombudsman’s office.
He is a member of Fine Gael, but failed to secure a nomination from the party. However, he has received an outside nomination from the Certified Public Accountants of Ireland.