Galway West 4th Count: A wasteland for Labour

Galway West was once a stronghold for the Labour Party – but it is now a wasteland as its candidate, Níall McNelis has been eliminated on the fourth count.
The Labour city councillor garnered just over 1,548 first preferences, well shy of what was required to be in the shake-up in Michael D Higgins’ former stomping ground.
Derek Nolan topped the poll here in Galway West in 2011 but lost his seat after winning just 3,220 first preferences in 2016. McNelis’ polled about half that this time out – a blow after the party lost one of its two Council seats back in the May 2019 Local Election.
The distribution of Aontú’s Cormac Ó Corcorain’s votes pushed Éamon Ó Cuív (FF) ahead of Sinn Féin’s Mairead Farrell as both close in on the quota.
Noel Grealish (Ind) took the biggest chunk of Ó Corcoráin’s transfers – 345 in total – as he solidifies his position in third place in this five-seater.
The 1,593 total votes of McNelis, who was not seen at the count centre today, will now be redistributed in the fifth count.

GALWAY WEST:
Seats: 5
Electorate: 104,825
Total Poll: 60,764
Spoiled: 423
Total valid poll: 60,341
Quota: 10,057

FOURTH COUNT:

Transfer of Ó Corcoráin 1,118 votes:
Cuív, Éamon Ó (FF): +269 (8,825)
Farrell, Maireád (SF): +70 (8,814)
Grealish, Noel (Ind): +345 (8,541)
Connolly, Catherine (Ind): +82 (5,775)
Naughton, Hildegarde (FG): +22 (5,667)
Kyne, Seán (FG): +31 (5,345)
Crowe, Ollie (FF): +103 (5,310)
O’Reilly, Pauline (Green): +45 (3,811)
Ó Tuathail, Niall (Soc Dem): +32 (3,793)
Cubbard, Mike (Ind): +62 (2,802)
McNelis, Níall (Lab): +16 (1,593) ELIMINATED
Non-transferable: 41
McNelis’ 1,593 now to be distributed

THIRD COUNT::
Transfer of Loughnane and Burke’s 957 votes:
Farrell, Maireád (SF): +258 (8,744)
Cuív, Éamon Ó (FF): + 22 (8,556)
Grealish, Noel (Ind): +37 (8,196)
Connolly, Catherine (Ind): +215 (5,693)
Naughton, Hildegarde (FG): +28 (5,645)
Kyne, Seán (FG): +22 (5,314)
Crowe, Ollie (FF): +27 (5,207)
O’Reilly, Pauline (Green): +111 (3,766)
Ó Tuathail, Niall (Soc Dem): +131 (3,761)
Cubbard, Mike (Ind): +43 (2740)
McNelis, Níall (Lab): +23 (1,577
Cormac Ó Corcaráin (Aontu) +21 (1,118) ELIMINATED
Non-Transferable: 19
Ó Corcoráin 1,118 now to be distributed

SECOND COUNT:
Transfer of Darragh O’Flaherty’s 318 votes:
Cuív, Éamon Ó (FF): + 12 (8,534)
Farrell, Maireád (SF): +22 (8,486)
Grealish, Noel (Ind): +116 (8,159)
Naughton, Hildegarde (FG): +8 (5,617)
Connolly, Catherine (Ind): +39 5,478
Kyne, Seán (FG): +8 5,292
Crowe, Ollie (FF): +5 5,180
O’Reilly, Pauline (Green): +5 3,655
Ó Tuathail, Niall (Soc Dem): +7 3,630
Cubbard, Mike (Ind): +21 2,697
McNelis, Níall (Lab): +6, 1,554
Corcoráin, Cormac Ó (Aontu): +39 1,097
Burke, Conor (Sol): +17 512 ELIMINATED
Loughnane, Joe (PBP): +8 445 ELIMINATED
Non-transferable: 5
Loughnane and Burke 957 votes to be distributed

FIRST COUNT
Cuív, Éamon Ó (FF): 8,522
Farrell, Maireád (SF): 8,464
Grealish, Noel (Ind): 8,043
Naughton, Hildegarde (FG): 5,609
Connolly, Catherine (Ind): 5,439
Kyne, Seán (FG): 5,284
Crowe, Ollie (FF): 5,175
O’Reilly, Pauline (Green): 3,650
Ó Tuathail, Niall (Soc Dem): 3,623
Cubbard, Mike (Ind): 2,676
McNelis, Níall (Lab): 1,548
Corcoráin, Cormac Ó (Aontu): 1,058
Burke, Conor (Sol): 495
Loughnane, Joe (PBP): 437
Flaherty, Darragh (Ind): 318 ELIM