INDEPENDENT TD Catherine Connolly has been elected as the Dáil's Leas Cheann Comhairle in a shock result that saw the government candidate defeated. Ms Connolly beat Fine Gael candidate Fergus O'Dowd by a narrow 77 votes to 74 in the secret ballot of TDs. The result means that some government TDs either didn't vote or cast their ballot in support of Ms Connolly. The Opposition has 73 votes between them so the result indicates that at least four government TDs voted for Ms Connolly. He said the role of Leas Cheann Comhairle should be "above party allegiance" and Ms Connolly will be "fair to everybody".

Source: Irish Independent July 23, 2020 14:36 UTC