Voter backlash evident in South Dublin as SF romp home

As a rampant Sinn Féin sweeps all before it in South Dublin, Fine Gael and particularly Labour are bearing the brunt of a bitter voter backlash in areas such as Tallaght and Clondalkin.

Sarah Holland in Rathfarnham made it seven for Sinn Féin after she exceeded the quota by one on the fifth count (1768). Deirdre O’Donovan (Independent) also made it through there to keep the ‘Sinndependence Day’ theme going in South Dublin.

SF’s Eoin Ó Broin romped to victory in the first count in Clondalkin, as did 20 year-old election novice Jonathan Graham, adding to earlier wins for Máire Devine in Tallaght Central, Cathal King (who more than doubled the quota) and Louise Dunne in Tallaght South, as well as Danny O’Brien in Lucan.

Fianna Fáil won’t be too disheartened with their performance so far having seen serving councillors John Lahart and Trevor Gilligan returned along with new entrant Charlie O’Connor in Tallaght Central (second count), but they look unlikely to hit their pre-election target of a seat in each South Dublin constituency.

Fine Gael have underwhelmed with their two seats despite William Lavelle’s impressive first count victory in a hotly-contested Lucan ward, and Labour remain in search of a first council seat- a performance which represents a huge turnaround from their 25 per cent poll in the area in 2009.

Two independents (former mayor Dermot Looney and Ronan McMahon in Templeogue-Terenure) along with People Before Profit's Clondalkin representative Gino Kelly make up the rest of the 14 seats won so far ahead of an intriguing night of results in Citywest.

Labour look likely to lose both their sitting councillors Caitriona Jones and Eamonn Tuffy in Lucan despite the area getting three extra seats in this election, the party were pinning a substantial amount of hope on them as well to mitigate a dire performance.