Irish governing Fine Gael, opposition Social Democrats won by elections

Ireland's governing centre-right Fine Gael and the Social Democrats, one of the country's smaller centre-left parties, won two by-elections on Sunday, while the reputed head of a well-known crime family missed out on election again.



The result was a blow to left-wing Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, which has established itself as one of Ireland's three largest parties and hoped to gain a seat in the Dublin Central area where leader Mary Lou McDonald is a sitting lawmaker.



A poor showing for the other governing coalition party, Fianna Fail, in both by-elections could also add to pressure on Prime Minister Micheal Martin from some of his own lawmakers.



The victory in Dublin for the Social Democrats' Daniel Ennis adds to the momentum the party gained at the last general election 18 months ago when it doubled its number of seats to 11 in the 174-seat chamber.



While the outcome suggested the Social Democrats won over some of Sinn Fein's progressive voters, the main opposition party also lost some of its traditional working-class vote to increasingly popular right-wing candidates, as it did in 2024.