Galway West
Galway West: Final two seats will go to the wire
The final two seats in Galway West will go down to the wire.
Éamon Ó Cuív (FF) is already elected and he will be followed soon by Independent Deputy Noel Grealish.
City Councillor Catherine Connolly also looks certain now to take a seat, having taken a massive chunk of Social Democrats Niall Ó Tuathail’s transfers.
That leaves a battle for the last seat between Sinn Féin senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, and the three remaining Fine Gael candidates, TDs Seán Kyne, John O’Mahony and senator Hildegarde Naughton.
Fianna Fáil’s John Connolly has been eliminated and his transfers are now being counted.
Ó Clochartaigh is currently on 7,468; Kyne is on 7,656; Naughton is on 6,626; and O’Mahony is on 5,852.
John Connolly’s transfers are expected to remain in the city, mostly benefitting his namesake, Catherine Connolly, and Naughton.
But the FF Republican element of those votes will go to Ó Clochartaigh and there will be a few geographically benefitting Kyne as John Connolly works as a teacher in Kyne’s North Connemara stronghold.
The other question is will John Connolly’s strong GAA connections give a boost to former Galway football manager O’Mahony.
The results of the 13th count are due shortly.