After falling short in the 2004 European elections, a 2009 by-election and the 2011 general election, the longtime Labour senator savoured her moment of triumph in Dublin Bay South this weekend – but it was a bad day for Fine Gael and an infinitely worse one for Fianna Fáil

The party’s candidate Deirdre Conroy received just 4.6 per cent of first preferences in the Dublin Bay South by-election

More transfer-friendly Labour candidate was unable to be reeled in by Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan

The campaign was contested vigorously online with parties using increasingly sophisticated tactics to promote their candidates and attack rivals

Despite a difficult campaign and a poor showing in a recent poll, Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Conroy is refusing to accept ‘anything that hasn’t happened’ while Claire Byrne insists the by-election has been a ‘unifying experience’ for the Greens

In its eagerness to stoke up anti-Sinn Féin sentiment in Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael appears to have cleared a path to a Dáil seat for the Labour senator

In the leafy, well-heeled environs of Dublin Bay South, Ivana Bacik is eager to break her electoral duck, James Geoghegan is learning on the job when it comes to canvassing, and Lynn Boylan hopes to spring a surprise on the government parties

The big question the opposition is raising in liberal Dublin Bay South is whether abortions will be carried out in the new National Maternity Hospital

It’s one of the wealthiest constituencies in the country, but its leafy streets will play host to knife-edge political intrigue and infighting in the coming months as half a dozen contenders fight to claim the seat vacated by Eoghan Murphy