Mayo Fine Gael Senator Mark Duffy pictured after his election to the Oireachtas.

Popular Mayo community activist elected to An Seanad

Mayo Councillor Mark Duffy has been elected to the Labour panel of An Seanad.

The Ballina-based representative secured his seat this morning by exceeding the quota of 95,751 after the 13th count.

He was the fifth candidate elected to the 11-strong Labour panel.

Mark was elected to Mayo County Council for a second term last June as an independent candidate.

But he joined Fine Gael prior to the general election in November after joining the party as the north Mayo-based candidate and narrowly missed out on winning a seat.

He is thrilled by his Oireachtas success and looks forward to fulfilling the role as the only senator for the county following the retirement of Paddy Burke (FG) and the decision of Lisa Chambers (FF) to opt out of national politics after her unsuccessful general election campaign in November.

A founder of the Ballina Community Clean-Up Group, his election creates a vacancy on Mayo County Council.

Despite the fact that he joined Fine Gael in recent months, the seat remains an independent one for the purposes of the co-option process.

It is widely expected that one of his family members will be nominated to replace him.