Prof William Binchy was defeated by former senator Brendan Ryan in the race for the third seat on the National University of Ireland panel in the Seanad elections.
Outgoing senators Joe O'Toole and Feargal Quinn were comfortably re-elected on the sixth count to the three-seat panel. Prof Binchy lost on the seventh and final count to Mr Ryan after a surprisingly high early showing which put him in third place after the first count.
A professor of law at Trinity College and a noted anti-abortion campaigner, his early high vote was swamped by huge transfers to Mr Ryan from Senator O'Toole's surplus, which gave Mr Ryan a final tally of 8,634 votes compared to 7,749 for Prof Binchy.
The battle for the third seat provided the only excitement in a rather dull two-day count at the College of Surgeons in Dublin, where most of the first day was spent in checking voter identity forms and ballot papers.
Mr Ryan, a chemical engineering lecturer at Cork RTC and a campaigner for the homeless and underprivileged, said he was "ecstatic" at the result. A senator for 12 years until 1993 when he lost to Prof Joe Lee, Mr Ryan said the electorate had been offered a clear choice between two distinct visions of modern Ireland and chose his view.
Prof Binchy disagreed. "I would have major support from people of all views. Many people who work with me disagreed with my views but still voted for me because they felt I would be a good senator."
Senator O'Toole said his vote was a "vindication of the huge effort put into my campaign". He believed the Seanad was intended to be "operated by people whose expertise is in other areas".
Mr Quinn hoped his success was "a recognition of the efforts I put into the last four years". He said the Seanad's franchise should be extended to other colleges as education would be the main challenge in the coming years.
Mr Tommy Francis, former president of the ASTI and a three-time Seanad candidate, thought "we could have done an awful lot better". His votes transferred overwhelmingly to Mr O'Toole and most of the remainder went to Mr Ryan.
A first-time candidate, Ms Linda O'Shea Farren, was pleased with her vote. Programme manager to the former minister for justice, Mrs Nora Owen, she decided to run a day before nominations closed, "and 95 per cent of the people I know are not actually registered to vote", she said.
