Tag Archives: local elections 2014

THIS year, for the first time since the 1970s, Sinn Féin won a seat on Clare County Council [Mike McKee in the Shannon Municipal District]. In West Clare, Noeleen Moran won 1,023 number one votes, not enough to get her over the line but, certainly, an excellent performance. Local politics is hardly brimming with young women. She said voters told her they were glad to see someone with her background standing. “The vote that we received, it was probably better than we expected but the feedback we got was that it wasn’t just a vote for Sinn Féin, it was also a vote for the fact that I was a woman and a younger politician.” After finishing school in Lisdoonvarna, she went on to study Public and Social Policy and International Law and Human Rights. Unlike many of her generation, including her own siblings, she found work in Ireland. “I finished college last year and I worked in Boston Scientific …

THE parties behind the big winners in the Local Elections have all admitted they made mistakes and each believes it cost them seats. When the newly-elected Clare County Council sits for its June 6 AGM, there will be 12 Fianna Fáil, eight Fine Gael, seven Independent and one Sinn Féin members. In percentage terms, 57.5% of the electorate voted, with 52,114 people casting their ballot. Despite picking up nearly 36% of the valid poll, Fianna Fáil’s director of elections, Gerry Reidy, said he believes they could have managed two further councillors in West Clare and in Shannon. Fine Gael, while securing 31.5% of the valid vote, took some heavy blows, with Mayor of Clare Joe Arkins losing his seat after opting to run in the Killaloe area. Independents secured over one fifth of the available vote and with it, a quarter of all representatives in the new council. Sinn Féin, with 4.2% of the total valid poll, had a candidate …

FINE Gael got 40% of the vote in Killaloe but ended up with just two councillors in the six-seat electoral area, despite one of its candidates topping the poll. So successful was Joe Cooney in the area that he almost doubled the quota on the first count. Indeed, his surplus was larger than the first preference votes of each of his party colleagues in the area, outgoing Mayor of Clare Joe Arkins and sitting councillor Pat Burke. The distribution of that surplus, however, did not go where party officials might have liked. Half went across to the four Fianna Fáil candidates and just over a quarter (390) went to his party colleagues. According to Jim McMahon, Munster organiser for Fine Gael, the party had a strategy in the electoral area but it didn’t work. “Joe Cooney is someone who, in the last number of elections, has got a very big vote, Joe Cooney’s vote, if you look where his vote …

There are signs of a Fianna Fáil resurgence in West Clare as party men will occupy four out of the eight council seats in the electoral area for the next five years. Sitting councillor Michael Hillery (FF) was elected in the 11th count. He puts part of his vote down to the elimination of Fine Gael’s Corofin-based candidate Gerry Kennedy. “When the tally came in yesterday and I had almost 1400 votes I thought I was in fourth position so I thought I was quite safe. Looking at the overall tally I knew there were a lot of candidates in the Southern section of the area and when they would be eliminated I wouldn’t get many votes from that particular area and that is what would happen but when Gerry Kennedy was eliminated that is when the thing changed around and it looked good from there on in and I’m delighted that it resulted in me being elected in Clare,” …

Outgoing Clare County Councillor, Michael Begley became the third member of the local authority to secure re-election at around 11.10 pm with 1,799 votes. The Independent Councillor admitted the loss of 320 from nearby Parteen concentrated his mind and his supporters to get those votes back. Acknowledging the lack of competition from another Clonlara candidate was a big help in his re-election bid, he identified three pools of votes to secure some additional votes. These included votes left behind by outgoing Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald and Councillor Cathal Crowe, who moved from Killaloe to the Shannon Municipal District and the decision of former Fine Gael Councillor, John McInerney not to re-enter the race. While all these votes were party votes, he managed to get enough of them to eventually secure his re-election. His re-election bid was also helped by the fact he was the only independent candidate out of the starting line-up of ten. He pointed out there was no comparable …

FÍS Nua candidate Niamh O’Brien has told The Clare Champion that she felt obliged to seek a partial recount after her elimination from the Killaloe Electoral Area on the fourth count. The first-time candidate was just six votes behind Liam Wiley (FF) when she was eliminated. “Because there’s only six votes in it, why not? I would bow out gracefully but if it’s worth fighting for and I’ll stay here for another while and see how it goes,” the O’Callaghan’s Mills native said before her elimination was confirmed after the partial recount. “It’s not too many times that I say this but I’m really proud of myself. I’m so honoured that so many people thought so much of me to put me this far. I have to thank them and I have to apologise because I was so thin on the ground and I didn’t get to everyone,” she added before paying tribute to her family. “My mother Bernie was …

Results from count three of the Killaloe Electoral Area, which distributed Pat Hayes’ surplus votes, has led to the elimination of Donal Higgins (Lab). Following the distribution of Pat Hayes’s surplus votes, Donal Higgins yielded 360 votes, and was deemed to be eliminated after no other candidate reached the quota. The elimination means that the Killaloe Electoral Area loses its Labour local representative. Climbing closer to the 1,585 votes required to be elected are: Michael Begley (NP) on 1,475 votes, Tony O’Brien (FF) on 1,408, Pat Burke (FG) on 1,148 votes and Alan O’Callaghan (FF) on 936. Those hoping to stay in the game are Liam Wiley (FF) on 886, Joe Arkins (FG) on 870 votes,  and Niamh O’Brien (FN) on 840.

The president’s nephew has joined the local election race in Clare. Donal Higgins, nephew of President Michael D Higgins, submitted his papers to the returning officer at Clare county council on Saturday morning, ahead of the midday deadline. Born and reared in Ballycar, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Mr Higgins is looking forward to the challenge of local politics. Mr Higgins became involved in the Labour Party’ Shannon branch in 2011. He campaigned in the general election for Deputy Michael McNamara and in the presidential campaign of his uncle. This is Donal Higgins’ first time standing for election. The 35-year-old grew up on the family farm in Ballycar, where he went to school before attending St Caimin’s Community School. Mr Higgins worked in Dell for six years before becoming unemployed. He did an internship in Zimmer in Shannon and is now a machinist with the company. Mr Higgins is currently completing a degree in science technology in University of Limerick. He is married to …