FOLLOWING the 11th count Michael McNamara has sought and been granted a full recount with less than 100 votes between himself and Michael McDonagh.
Speaking about the decision to seek a recount, Mr McNamara said “It’s now half three in the morning. The gap was around 85 between myself and Michael
McDonagh out of around 13,000 votes, less than 1% of the total number of votes that we both have, and McDonagh and McNamara are quite close to each other alphabetically.”
He acknowledged he was disappointed with his showing. “Of course. I had a lot of work done, my constituency secretary Edel Carroll did a huge amount of work. There was a lot of talk about new politics in advance of the last election and for a few weeks afterwards. I did my best in that regard.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.