News

  Electorate: 82,745 Poll: 58,495 Invalid: 579 Valid: 57,916 Quota: 11,584 4 seats James Breen (NP) +63 to 6,662 Pat Breen (FG) +21 to 9,917 Joe Carey (FG) +18 to 7,906 Jim Connolly (NP) +44 to 1,075 Ann Cronin (NP) +24 to 521 Timmy Dooley (FF) +10 to 6,823 John Hillery (FF) +13 to 6,066 Brian Markham (NP) +52 to 1,637 Madeline McAleer (NP) +22 to 509 Michael McNamara (Lab) + 38 to 8,697 Brian Meaney (GP) +15 to 1,187 Tony Mulcahy (FG) +15 to 6,881 Two candidates have been excluded on the fifth count, independents Madeline McAleer and Ann Cronin.Their votes are now being redistributed.  

A number of Fine Gael councillors have expressed the view to the Clare Champion that the party would have been better off running four candidates in the constituency. Councillor Joe Arkins said; “Now isn’t the time to be having this conversation but it would have been appropriate following the withdrawal of Tony Killeen from national politics that the slot in North Clare would be filled. Fianna Fáil were not in a position to fill it, the nearest they could get was a Miltown candidate. There was an obvious opening there for us. I feel we should have ran a candidate in North Clare. I think Martin Conway was an obvious candidate having polled very well in the local elections and having declared his intentions at convention.”

  Electorate: 82,745 Poll: 58,495 Invalid: 579 Valid: 57,916 Quota: 11,584 4 seats James Breen (NP) +16 to 6,599 Pat Breen (FG) +17 to 9,896 Joe Carey (FG) +12 to 7,888 Jim Connolly (NP) +12 to 1,031 Ann Cronin (NP) +57 to 497 Timmy Dooley (FF) +17 to 6,813 John Hillery (FF) +9 to 6,053 Brian Markham (NP) +20 to 1,585 Madeline McAleer (NP) +37 to 487 Michael McNamara (Lab) + 44 to 8,659 Brian Meaney (GP) +9 to 1,172 Tony Mulcahy (FG) +5 to 6,866 Gerry Walsh (NP) +12 to 352 Non-party Gerry Walsh was eliminated on the fourth count and his votes are now being redistributed.

  Electorate: 82,745 Poll: 58,495 Invalid: 579 Valid: 57,916 Quota: 11,584 4 seats James Breen (NP) +37 to 6,583 Pat Breen (FG) +14 to 9,879 Joe Carey (FG) +17 to 7,876 Jim Connolly (NP) +13 to 1,015 Ann Cronin (NP) +11 to 440 Timmy Dooley (FF) +11 to 6,806 Sarah Ferrigan (NP) +5 to 265 John Hillery (FF) +24 to 6,044 Brian Markham (NP) +18 to 1,565 Madeline McAleer (NP) +21 to 450 Michael McNamara (Lab) + 34 to 8,615 Brian Meaney (GP) +5 to 1,163 Tony Mulcahy (FG) +29 to 6,861 Gerry Walsh (NP) +8 to 340 Non-party Sarah Ferrigan was eliminated on the third count and her votes are now being redistributed.

Fine Gael’s Pat Breen looks set to take the first seat in the Clare constituency outpolling his nearest rival Labour’s Michael McNamara after the third count by more than 1,200 votes. Deputy Breen’s vote now stands at 9,879 while Michael McNamara is on 8,615. Next is Fine Gael TD Joe Carey with 7,876 followed by running mate Tony Mulcahy on 6,861. Fianna Fail’s sitting Timmy Dooley is ahead of running mate John Hillery (on 6,806 and 6,044 respectively). Independent James Breen is currently outpolling Dr Hillery by more than 500 votes. So far James Breen has been doing well from transfers receiving a total of 92 votes. Fellow independent Jim Connolly has received 37 transfers bringing him over 1,000 votes. Meanwhile Joe Carey (FG) has benefitted from 36.  

  Saturday, 7pm Fine Gael’s Director of Elections Edmund Jennings has conceded that the party are almost certain not to get a coveted third seat in Clare, but he is still happy with the performance. “Our share of the vote is about 42% and we thought that if we got a higher percentage we might get a third seat, but it doesn’t look likely. We were thinking you’d need 45 to 50 to have a chance at a third seat and then you weren’t sure of it. We’re very pleased with the vote that Tony Mulcahy got, that’s where we wanted him to be if we had got the overall share of the vote wanted,” he commented. Overall, the party are happy with the outcome said Mr Jennings. “It’s positive really, it was against the odds that we won the two seats the last time and we were very lucky to do that. This time it looks like we’ll win them …

  Electorate: 82,745 Poll: 58,495 Invalid: 579 Valid: 57,916 Quota: 11,584 4 seats Patrick Brassil (NP) – James Breen (NP) +55 to 6,546 Pat Breen (FG) +10 to 9,855 Joe Carey (FG) +19 to 7,859 Jim Connolly (NP) +24 to 1,002 Ann Cronin (NP) +10 to 429 Timmy Dooley (FF) +6 to 6,795 Sarah Ferrigan (NP) +8 to 260 John Hillery (FF) +5 to 6,020 Brian Markham (NP) +4 to 1,547 Madeline McAleer (NP) +1 to 429 JJ McCabe (NP) +4 to 252 Michael McNamara (Lab) + 9 to 8,581 Brian Meaney (GP) +4 to 1,158 Tony Mulcahy (FG) +3 to 6,832 Gerry Walsh (NP) +4 to 332 JJ McCabe was eliminated on the second count and his votes are now being redistributed.

  Electorate: 82,745 Poll: 58,495 Invalid: 579 Valid: 57,916 Quota: 11,584 4 seats Patrick Brassil (NP) 175 James Breen (NP) 6,491 Pat Breen (FG) 9,855 Joe Carey (FG) 7,840 Jim Connolly (NP) 978 Ann Cronin (NP) 419 Timmy Dooley (FF) 6,789 Sarah Ferrigan (NP) 252 John Hillery (FF) 6,015 Brian Markham (NP) 1,543 Madeline McAleer (NP) 428 JJ McCabe (NP) 248 Michael McNamara (Lab) 8,572 Brian Meaney (GP) 1,154 Tony Mulcahy (FG) 6,829 Gerry Walsh (NP) 328   Independent Patrick Brassil has been eliminated and his votes will be redistributed.