Election 2020
Roscommon-Galway 1st Count: Fitzmaurice romps home

Michael Fitzmaurice is the first Independent candidate to be elected in the country after increasing his vote by a third to pull in over 13,000 first preferences in the Roscommon-Galway constituency, well past the quota.
In the 2016 poll, the Glinsk turf-cutting contractor attracted 9,750 votes in the first count, coming in second behind Independent TD Denis Naughten.
This time around he topped the poll with 13,077 votes, giving him 28 per cent of the vote and 1,673 over the quota.
The six foot tall politician and his wife Maria were hauled to the shoulders of his large entourage, who gathered at the count centre in Dr Hyde GAA Park in Roscommon for the first count announced at 6.45pm.
His surplus is now being distributed and the returning officer Mary Raftery will then move on to eliminate the candidate with the lowest number of votes.
Former communications minister Denis Naughten, who left Fine Gael before the last election running as an Independent, is expected to take the second seat on at least count seven after he secured 8,422 votes.
Sinn Féin’s Claire Kirrane, a 27-year-old NUIG politics graduate who has been employed as a political advisor by the party in Leinster House, is currently the favourite to take the third seat according to the tallies.
She has 8,003 first preferences and is likely to prove extremely transfer-friendly
If she secures transfers from both Fitzmaurice and Naughten as expected, she will outpoll Fianna Fáil incumbent Eugene Murphy, who attracted just under 5,000 votes. His running mate, Orla Leydon, daughter of political stalwart Senator Terry Leyden, garnered just under 3,000 votes.
Fine Gael candidate Aisling Dolan was shoe-horned into the campaign in November joining the party after winning a seat as an Independent in the May local election after Maura Hopkins withdrew from the race following the birth of her first baby. She polled a respectable fourth place with 5,466, but is thought to have an outside chance of winning transfers.
Number of seats: 3
Electorate: 69,598
Spoiled votes: 330
Total valid poll: 45,612
Quota: 11,404
FIRST COUNT
Fitzmaurice, Michael (Ind) 13,077
Naughten, Denis (Ind) 8,422
Kirrane, Clare (SF) 8,003
Dolan, Aisling (FG) 5,466
Murphy Eugene (FF) 4,945
Leyden, Orla (FF) 2,953
O’Donoghue, Julie (GP) 1,413
Hope, James (Aontu) 504
Tynan, Kieran (SPBP) 422
Hanley, Paul (National Party) 319
Fallon, Thomas D (Ind) 88
Fitzmaurice re-elected on the first count.
Fitzmaurice’s surplus of 1,673 to be distributed.
Galway West
Labour fails to make up ground

On the canvass three weeks ahead of the election, Cllr Níall McNelis told the Galway City Tribune he believed Labour’s time “on the bold step” had come to an end.
But as soon as ballot boxes were opened on Sunday morning, it became apparent that wasn’t the case. In fact, the first preference vote share for Labour in Michael D Higgins’ former constituency had decreased to just 3% – a further decline from the 5% Derek Nolan managed in 2016.
Labour’s hammering wasn’t contained to Galway and it’s clear they haven’t been forgiven for their time in Government with Fine Gael. Nonetheless, Cllr McNelis said he was “devastated” by the result when he visited the count centre on Monday morning.
He’d been eliminated on the fourth count the day before, having received 1,548 first preferences.
“I was at home yesterday – I was devastated, gutted, but I know it’s not personal. The party is in trouble and we’re going to have to look at that. The unions have left us and they’re voting for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Fine Gael. That was our core vote; we were a workers’ party once upon a time.
“We were the party that fought for marriage equality long before anybody else – the SocDems have taken that mantel off us; the repeal of the 8th Amendment, we were the ones who fought for that,” said Cllr McNelis.
“The Left vote is very, very crowded here in Galway so [Labour is] going to have to regroup and reorganise. I have to explain what Níall does a bit more. The result that we got, people have been ringing me and saying, ‘Níall, we’re sorry, it was Labour and not Níall’.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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Galway West
Down but not out – Crowe considering Seanad bid

When one door closes, another opens. That appeared to be the motto of Ollie Crowe, who bowed out of the race in Galway West on the seventh count.
No sooner had the electorate shut the door on his hopes of taking a second seat for Fianna Fáil, the city councillor was contemplating a bid for a seat in the Upper House of the Oireachtas.
“We just came up short; the national trend affected it in the last couple of days. I was delighted to get 5,200 first preferences in my first time standing for Dáil Éireann. I’m disappointed but I feel overall, I revitalised Fianna Fáil in the city and rebuilt the party.
“I’m honoured and humbled that public representatives have asked me to stand for the Seanad and that’s something we’ll discuss over the coming days and weeks and make a decision on that,” he said.
Cllr Crowe told Galway City Tribune that Fianna Fáil made a mistake supporting Fine Gael in ‘Confidence and Supply’ for four years. “We probably stayed in too long – four years is too long. People wanted change, people spoke for change and we were too aligned with the Government.”
He said that a coalition with Sinn Féin “wouldn’t be my preference”.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway West
Party unstuck by a green wave of a different hue

Pauline O’Reilly’s biggest supporter, her daughter Caragh, cuddled into the Green Party councillor’s side as she gave an interview to the Galway City Tribune at the count centre on Sunday, after being eliminated on the sixth count in Galway West.
The nine-year-old was by her mother’s side last May as well, when Cllr O’Reilly – and two other Galway councillors, Martina O’Connor and Alastair McKinstry – was elected in the local elections on the back of a ‘Green wave’.
Less than a year later, and ger Dáil bid came unstuck by another green wave – green of a Republican tinge.
She was tipped by many political pundits and rival candidates, as the likely beneficiary if Galway West returned two ‘left’ seats. And a TG4 constituency poll the week before voters cast their ballots, confirmed Cllr O’Reilly was bang in contention. But then came the surge for Sinn Féin, which her supporters felt on the doorsteps.
“We knew a week out that I was in trouble; I felt in the last couple of days support had shifted back a bit. I wasn’t shocked when I saw the tallies because I was feeling the worry a week ago and I knew it hadn’t come back sufficiently. Certainly, a lot of younger people, children and teens, were upset at the lack of conversation about climate and the environment but it just wasn’t coming up strongly enough with adults,” she said.
Cllr O’Reilly took 6% of the vote with 3,650 first preferences, an increase of 3.5% compared with Seamus Sheridan in 2016, but she was swamped by Sinn Féin’s rise.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.