Politics

Mayo County Council: Fine Gael claim four seats in Claremorris

Total of 63 candidates running in 30-seat constituency

Marian Duggan
Keith Bourke
Mon May 27 2019 - 13:12

The final local election count in Mayo drew to a close at 3.20am on Monday morning.

The Claremorris electoral area six seater saw Fine Gael reap rich awards with the party taking four seats.

Outgoing FG councillor Patsy O’Brien was first past the post. He smashed the 1,865 quota with a massive 2,955 first preference votes.

Fianna Fáil’s Damien Ryan and Independent Richard Finn made it on the second count with Ryan benefiting from 326 O’Brien transfers.

READ MORE

It was the sixth count before the final three candidates were elected. Fine Gael’s Michael Burke, who previously served on the local authority, surpassed the quota with transfers bringing him up to 1,907. His party colleagues John Cribbin and Tom Connolly were elected on the same count without reaching the quota while FF’s Michael Carty was eliminated.

Earlier in the count Mags Sheehan (Green Party), Paul Lawless (Aontú) and Natasha Warde (Sinn Féin) were eliminated in a count dominated by Fine Gael and outgoing councillors.

The Claremorris result sees Fine Gael take 12 out of the 30 available seats on Mayo County Council. Fianna Fáil secured 11, Independents took seven seats and Sinn Féin will just have one representative in the council chamber. Despite running five candidates across six electoral areas, Cllr Gerry Murray, who topped the poll in Swinford, was Sinn Féin’s only success story in Mayo.

(First preference votes: candidates elected in bold)

Ballina: 6 seats

John O'Hara (Fine Gael) – 2,129 (elected count 1)
Mark Duffy (Ind) – 2,097 (elected count 1)
Annie May Reape (Fianna Fáil) – 1,360 (elected count 7)
Michael Loftus 1,320 (Fianna Fáil) (elected count 8)
Seamus Weir (Ind) – 1, 168 (elected count 8)
Jarlath Munnelly – 951 (Fine Gael) (elected count 8)
Eamon Moore – 1,105 (Fianna Fáil)
Kieran Gill – 718 (Fine Gael)
Aileen Horkan – 569 (Fine Gael)
Willie Nolan (Ind) – 388
Michael Regan (Sinn Féin) – 279
Tracey Smith (Social Dems) – 185

Belmullet: 3 seats

Gerry Coyle (Fine Gael) - 1,806 (elected count 1)
Paul McNamara (Fianna Fáil) - 1,696 (elected count 2)
Seán Carey (Fianna Fáil) - 1,604 (elected count 2)
Teresa Whelan (Sinn Féin) - 1,092
Breege Grealis (Fine Gael) - 655
Jay Heneghan (Ind) - 224

Castlebar: 7 seats

Michael Kilcoyne (Ind)- 2,598 - (elected count 1)
Blackie K Gavin (Fianna Fáil) - 1,778 - (elected count 1)
Al McDonnell (Fianna Fáil) - 1,519 (elected count 8)
Ger Deere (Fine Gael)- 1,278 (elected count 12)
Cyril Burke (Fine Gael) - 1,192 (elected count 13)
Martin McLoughlin (Fianna Fáil) - 911 (elected count 13)
Donna Sheridan (Fine Gael) - 804 (elected count 13)
Eugene McCormack (Fine Gael) - 725
Harry Barrett (Ind) - 620
Joe McHale (Sinn Féin) - 602
Gerry Loftus (Ind) - 552
Joe Daly (Solidarity–PBP) - 437
Michael Farrington (Renua Ireland) - 315
Aidan Crowley (Ind) - 176
Uddin Kamal (Labour Party) - 143
Des Walsh (Ind) - 142
Anthony Vesey (Ind) - 54

Claremorris: 6 seats

Patsy O'Brien (Fine Gael) –2,955 (elected count 1)
Damien Ryan (Fianna Fáil) –1,572 (elected count 2)
Richard Finn (Ind) 1,774 (elected count 2)
John Cribbin (Fine Gael) – 1,497 (elected count 6)
Michael Burke (Fine Gael) – 1,413 (elected count 6)
Tom Connolly (Fine Gael) – 1,206 (elected count 6)
Michael Carty (Fianna Fáil) –932
Natasha Warde (Sinn Féin) –764
Paul Lawless (Aontú) –677
Margaret (Mags) Sheehan (Green Party) –263

Swinford: 4 seats

Gerry Murray (Sinn Féin) - 1,896 - (elected count 1)
Michael Smyth (Fianna Fáil) - 1,631 - (elected count 2)
Neil Cruise (Fine Gael) - 1,511 - (elected count 3)
John Caulfield (Fianna Fáil) - 1,296 - (elected count 3)
Tom Lavin (Fine Gael) - 1,130
Tommy Horan (Aontú) - 642
Sean Forkin (Ind) - 62

Westport: 4 seats

Christy Hyland (Ind) - 1,442 (elected count 5)
Peter Flynn (Fine Gael) - 1,250 (elected count 6)
Brendan Mulroy (Fianna Fáil) - 1,191 (elected count 7)
John (Johno) O'Malley (Ind) - 959 ( elected count 7)
Chris Maxwell (Fianna Fáil) - 899
Austin Francis O'Malley (Fine Gael) - 830
Tereasa McGuire (Fine Gael) - 803
Darragh McGee (Ind) - 530
Cissy Nayiga (Green Party) - 365
Shane Fitzgerald (Ind) - 115
Frank McAlonan (Ind) - 82

LATEST STORIES