Independent TD Michael Lowry announced before the local elections that his political group would be running five candidates in a bid to improve on the three already held, and all five have been elected to Tipperary County Council.
The former minister and Fine Gael member’s son Micheál Lowry topped the poll in the Thurles electoral area while John “Rocky” McGrath, who lost his council seat in 2014, was returned for the Newport LEA.
“Team Lowry” also saw Michael O’Meara retain his seat in Nenagh, as did Eddie Moran in the Roscrea-Templemore electoral area. Newcomer Shane Lee also took a seat for the group in Roscrea-Templemore.
The other big winners in Tipperary were Fine Gael, who increased their seat share from 10 to 12, with their percentage of the first preferences going up from 26 to 27%.
Fianna Fáil also boosted their first preferences by over 2%, but ended up losing seats, including that of outgoing council chairman Mattie Ryan “Coole” who lost in Newport to party colleague John Carroll.
It was a bad election in the county for Sinn Féin, whose Carrick-on-Suir outgoing councillor David Dunne was their only representative in Tipperary to increase his vote share. Catherine Carey ended up in a battle for the last of six seats in Clonmel and ended up losing to Niall Dennehy while in Cashel-Tipperary, the party’s two candidates Cllr Martin Browne and Tony Black were neck-and-neck throughout the weekend before Black took the penultimate seat, with independent Annemarie Ryan of the MarchforTipp protest group also successful.
Sinn Féin failed to make an impact in any of the other five electoral areas and the result in Thurles will be a particular setback for the leadership as their candidate for the next general election, Ciara McCormack, won just 267 first preferences.
Having lost two of the five council seats it won in 2014 to defection in the last year, Sinn Féin may now need to rethink its strategy in the county and supporters of David Dunne will be pressing for him to be put on the general election ticket.
(First preference votes, candidates elected in bold)
Cahir: 4 seats
Andy Moloney (Ind) - 1, 885 (elected count 1)
Marie Murphy (Fine Gael) - 1,226 (elected count 3)
Máirín McGrath (Ind) - 1,168 (elected count 3)
Micheál Jnr Anglim (Fianna Fáil) - 1,056 (elected count 4)
Martin Lonergan (Ind) - 636
PJ English (Fianna Fáil) - 533
Anita Lonergan (Fianna Fáil) - 189
Danny Carroll (Sinn Féin) - 124
Carrick-on-Suir: 5 seats
Imelda Goldsboro (Fianna Fáil) - 1,980 (elected count 1)
David Dunne (Sinn Féin) - 1,282 (elected count 6)
Mark Fitzgerald (Fine Gael) - 1,229 (elected count 7)
Kevin O'Meara (Ind) - 1,177 (elected count 8)
Kieran Bourke (Fianna Fáil) - 971 (elected count 8)
Louise McLoughlin (Fine Gael) - 1,1015
Michael Cleere (Workers and Unemployed Action) - 677
Margaret Croke (Fine Gael) - 411
Pierce O'Loughlin (Ind) - 327
Sarah Dunne (Labour Party) - 257
Joanne Ivors (Sinn Féin) - 132
Cashel-Tipperary: 7 seats
Michael Fitzgerald (Fine Gael) - 3,005 (elected count 1)
Roger Kennedy (Fianna Fáil) - 1,468 (elected count 2)
Declan Burgess (Fine Gael) - 1,322 (elected count 2)
Mary Hanna Hourigan(Fine Gael) - 1,275 (elected count 2)
John Crosse (Fine Gael) - 1,006 (elected count 5)
Tony Black (Sinn Féin) - 724 (elected count 9)
Annemarie Ryan (Ind) - 586 (elected count 9)
Jacqui Finnan (Fianna Fáil) - 717
Martin Browne (Sinn Féin) - 662
Lisa McGrath (Ind)- 465
Robert O'Donnell (Labour Party) - 382
Barry Walsh (Ind) - 205
Clonmel: 6 seats
Michael Murphy (Fine Gael) - 2,102 (elected count 1)
Siobhán Ambrose (Fianna Fáil) - 2,031 (elected count 1)
Pat English (Workers and Unemployed Action) - 1,599 (elected count 1)
Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) - 816 (elected count 3)
Richie Molloy (Ind) - 832 (elected count 6)
Niall Dennehy (Ind) - 510 (elected count 8)
Catherine Carey (Sinn Féin) - 498
Teresa Johnson (Workers and Unemployed Action) - 345
Martin Duggan (Aontú) - 262
David Shanahan (Fianna Fáil) - 195
Eoin O'Flaherty (Ind) - 124
Nenagh: 5 seats
Joe Hannigan (Ind) - 2,113 (elected count 1)
Michael O'Meara (Ind) - 1,641 (elected count 3)
Gerard Darcy (Fine Gael) - 1,303 (elected count 6)H
Hughie McGrath (Ind) - 1,026 (elected count 7)
Séamus Morris (Ind) - 1,070 (elected count 7)
Louise Morgan Walsh (Labour Party) - 1,052
Damien Hough (Fianna Fáil) - 895
Brendan Murphy (Fianna Fáil) - 492
Damian O'Donoughue (Sinn Féin) - 492
Conor Delaney (Fine Gael) - 315
Graham King (Ind) - 46
Newport: 4 seats
Fiona Bonfield (Labour Party) - 2,126 (elected count 1)
John 'Rocky' McGrath (Ind) - 1,498 (elected count 2)
Dr Phyll Bugler (Fine Gael) - 1,352 (elected count 3)
John Carroll (Fianna Fáil) - 1,314 (elected count 3)
Mattie Ryan (Fianna Fáil) - 1,171
Rose Anne White (Green Party) - 446
Teresa Collins (Sinn Féin) - 155
Roscrea-Templemore: 4 seats
Michael Smith (Fianna Fáil) - 2,570 (elected count 1)
Noel J Coonan (Fine Gael) - 1,619 (elected count 2)
Shane Lee (Ind) - 1,417 (elected count 5)
Eddie Moran (Ind) - 1,321 (elected count 6)
Jonathan Cullen (Fine Gael) - 666
William Bergin (Fianna Fáil) - 622
Michael 'Chinny' Donovan (Sinn Féin) - 375
Tommy Murphy (Ind) - 337
Thurles: 5 seats
Micheál Lowry (Ind) - 1,710 (elected count 1)
Seamus Hanafin (Fianna Fáil) - 1,558 (elected count 5)
Peter Ryan (Fine Gael) - 1,546 (elected count 5)
Sean Ryan (Fianna Fáil) - 1,329 (elected count 7)
Jim Ryan (Ind) - 1,180 (elected count 7)
David Doran (Ind) - 1,091
Fergal Butler (Fianna Fáil) - 585
Tommy Barrett (Ind) - 341
Ciara Mccormack (Sinn Féin) - 267
Catherine Fogarty (Ind) - 118
Michael Bracken (Ind) - 91
