Today's other election news in brief ...
Portlaoise recount could take days
A PROCESS to determine the last seat in the Portlaoise electoral area in Laois may continue for a number of days.
Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan called a recount when, shortly after 9pm on Sunday, it was announced that Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Fitzgerald and Fine Gael’s Paddy Buggy had final total votes of 921 each.
Returning officer Declan Byrne had earlier deemed Fitzgerald to be elected “according to the rules” because her first preferences of 571 were higher than Buggy’s at 435.
“For Fine Gael, what’s at stake is an overall majority in the council, something we haven’t had for decades,” Flanagan said. “To achieve that in the Taoiseach’s backyard would be an extraordinary development, and a testament to our hard work on the ground.”
Recounting throughout yesterday was described as “very, very slow and very, very painstaking – democracy in action” by Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming, whose brother was elected in the Luggacurren area on the sixth count.
Minister of State John Moloney said it would be a major disappointment for Fianna Fáil to lose one of only two seats it holds on the council. Each side “will honour whatever the final decision is” but did not exclude the possibility of FF calling a recount if Fitzgerald loses out.
Meanwhile, a meticulous recount is proceeding in “a most gentlemanly fashion with no animosity”, he said.
Election of Socialist Higgins concerns Dublin lord mayor
DUBLIN LORD Mayor Éibhlín Byrne yesterday expressed concern at what the election of Socialist leader Joe Higgins to the European Parliament would mean for Dublin. Mr Higgins was “going to Europe with a very strong anti-business message and he would like to see corporation tax and that kind of thing increased”, Byrne said, after she failed in her bid for a Fianna Fáil seat in the Dublin constituency. Byrne said that while she liked Higgins personally, he was “really not what the city needs at this time”, and she was “very concerned about it”.
“The people wanted to give a strong message to the Government and that worries me,” she said. Higgins was elected yesterday morning on the seventh count with more than 50,000 first-preference votes. Ms Byrne received almost 19,000 first-preference votes and was eliminated on the second count.
Her Fianna Fáil running mate Eoin Ryan lost his seat. “It’s democracy, and the people have spoken. They wanted to choose something that was absolutely alternative – Joe was a very different voice, and that’s the people’s wish,” she said. Byrne, who is due to finish her year as Dublin lord mayor in the next few weeks, ruled out any intention to run for a Dáil seat.She said Fianna Fáil had to ask itself was it listening and communicating enough.
Still friendly after marathon count
After a 36½-hour marathon count in Longford, the final seat on the council was decided at 7.30pm following a full recheck of of the 6,448 votes which had been cast in the Longford electoral area, writes Seán MacConnell.
Those at the count on Sunday night thought it was all over when on the sixth count all seven seats were filled at 12.30am. However, there was a call for a recount from outgoing Fianna Fáil councillor Séamus Butler, who appeared to have lost his seat by 22 votes to party rival and friend, Dennis Glennon, former president of St Mel’s College and also a member of the council. His complaint was over the distribution of the surplus votes of Michael Nevin. Mr Butler had received 653 votes, while Mr Glennon had received 675. The recount and recheck began at 10am yesterday and continued through the day. However, by the end of the day at the Sports and Leisure Centre, county returning officer Gerry Gillen announced that the result he had announced the previous night had been accurate.
The check had delivered an additional four votes for Mr Butler but had given an extra two to Mr Glennon. In addition, five votes were deducted from Paul Connell, the Independent who had taken the Fianna Fáil seat, and one vote from the Fine Gael councillor, Victor Kiernan. Following the declaration of the outcome, Mr Butler expressed satisfaction with the way the matter had been handled and said he had to follow through with his queries on the count. The final declaration of the seven seats in the Longford area did not make any change to the overall party position in the county where Fine Gael lost a seat. In the Ballymahon electoral area, it dropped the seat which had been held by Adrian Farrell to Mark Casey, a former Fianna Fáil activist who ran as an Independent.
Young people to the fore
Young people have been to the fore in a significant number of county council elections, forming what has been described as “a new tier of councillors”.
In Wicklow, Simon Harris (22) (Fine Gael) beat candidates from all five electoral areas to head the poll with 3,119 first preference votes. In doing so he out-polled long-time councillors from his party by about 2,000 votes and exceeded the quota by 1,155 votes. The move ensured Fine Gael three of the four seats in the Greystones electoral area, while Harris went on to also top the poll in the Greystones Town Council elections.
In Co Offaly, Liam Quinn (22), also of Fine Gael, was elected to county council for the Edenderry area, alongside party colleague Nicola Hogan (28).
In Roscommon, Fianna Fáil dynasties were maintained with the return of 20-somethings Rachel Doherty and Orla Leyden.
Two other 20-somethings are to join Cork County Council. They are Independent John Paul O’Shea (25) and Patrick O’Driscoll (26) of Fine Gael. O’Driscoll topped the poll in Fermoy.
In Dublin city, 20-somethings Eoghan Murphy (Fine Gael), Ray McAdam (Fine Gael) and Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) will be among the 52 councillors set to plan the city’s future.
In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Hugh Lewis (25) was elected from the Ballybrack electoral area, for the People Before Profit alliance.