After four full days of counting, Longford County Council’s 18 seats were finally filled on Tuesday night – the last count centre in the country to declare results.
Fianna Fáíl’s Joe Flaherty was elected on Sunday in the Longford electoral area on the first count after securing 1,053 first preference votes.
He was followed by Fine Gael’s Peggy Nolan, Gerry Hagan and John Browne, Fianna Fáil’s Séamus Butler and Martin Monaghan, alongside Independent Gerry Warnock.
The main talking point in the Granard local electoral area was the performance of first-time Independent candidate Turlough McGovern. The north Longford farmer secured the highest number of first preference votes across the entire county and was elected on the first count. Also elected on the first count was Fine Gael’s Micheál Carrigy.
In Ballymahon, which was the last of the 166 areas in the country to declare a first count, just two of the LEA’s six seats were filled before late on Tuesday evening – with Independent Mark Casey and Fine Gael’s Paul Ross both elected after the first count.
Following the eighth count only one other candidate had reached the quota of 949. However, as there are only five candidates vying it out for four remaining seats, one candidate was excluded with the lowest number of votes. The candidate excluded was Fianna Fáil’s Brigid Duffy.
This meant Fianna Fáil’s Mick Cahill, Fine Gael’s Gerard Farrell (FG), Colm Murray (FG) and Pat O’Toole all claimeded the four remaining seats and have been deemed elected, finally bringing the Longford local elections to a close – and, as it was the last to declare, the local elections nationwide too.
(First preference votes: candidates elected in bold)
Ballymahon: 6 seats
Paul Ross (Fine Gael) - 1,217 (elected count 1)
Mark Casey (Ind) - 995 (elected count 1)
Mick Cahill (Fianna Fáil) - 747 (elected count 9)
Pat O'Toole (Fianna Fáil) - 669 (elected count 9)
Colm Murray (Fine Gael) - 633 (elected count 9)
Gerard Farrell (Fine Gael) - 622 (elected count 9)
Brigid Duffy (Fianna Fáil) - 501
John Kenny (Fianna Fáil) - 419
Tony Moran (Ind) - 325
Geraldine Ryan (Sinn Féin) - 196
Charlie McMonagle (Ind) - 181
PJ Walsh (Ind) - 133
Granard: 5 seats
Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) -1,183 (elected count 1)
Turlough Pott McGovern (Independent) - 1,280 (elected count 1)
Paraic Brady (Fine Gael) - 867 (elected count 7)
Garry Murtagh (Fine Gael) - 730 (elected count 9)
PJ Reilly (Fianna Fáil) - 648 (elected count 9)
Joe Murphy (Fianna Fáil) - 390
Mark Maguire (Sinn Féin) - 360
Amanda Duffy (Fianna Fáil) - 298
Grace Kearney (Independent) - 291
Frank Kilbride (Fine Gael) - 280
Victor Connell (Fianna Fáil) - 266
Longford: 7 seats
Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fáil) - 1,053 (elected count 1)
Peggy Nolan (Fine Gael) - 741 (elected count 8)
Gerry Hagan (Fine Gael) - 730 (elected count 9)
John Browne (Fine Gael) - 692 (elected count 9)
Gerry Warnock (Ind) - 659 (elected count 9)
Seamus Butler (Fianna Fáil) - 656 (elected count 9)
Martin Monaghan (Fianna Fáil) - 576 (elected count 9)
Mae Sexton (Ind) - 474
Tena Keown (Sinn Féin) - 356
Uruemu Adejinmi (Fianna Fáil) - 248
Seamus Gallagher (Ind) - 156
Gerard Cooney (Fine Gael) - 133
Barbara Smyth (Solidarity–PBP) - 96
Tony Reilly (Ind) - 89
Julie O'Reilly (Ind) - 28
George Breaden (Ind) - 14
