Ollie Crowe has conceded that Fianna Fáil will only be coming back with three seats in the new Galway City Council, the same number the party had at the start of this election campaign.
Cllr Crowe’s admission shows the party is not confident of David Burke’s chances in Galway City Central, so it is ‘as you were’ for the brothers Crowe and Peter Keane.
It was all so different just a few days ago when the party was convinced it could take two in the Galway City Central with Nicola Deacy, and be in with a fighting chance of two in the west ward. So why did the ‘FF revival’ not happen?
“We’re still in the sin bin,” Cllr Crowe told the Galway Advertiser. “It’s been a very tough time for the citizens of this country. They have had to endure austerity and new taxes. It was a tough campaign and we’re only going to be coming back with three seats.”
Cllr Crowe said the mood among the electorate was “anti-parties” and explains why FF remain at three and Fine Gael will just about scrape four seats, while Labour have been near decimated.
“The next council will be mainly Independents and three Sinn Féin and that is actually the good thing about today,” he says. “You respect democracy and that the people have spoken, and you take on their concerns. I give a commitment here today, that I will do my best to represent them, and that I will work to help bring the city forward and make it a great place to live and work.”
Cllr Crowe was disappointed for his running mate Nicola Deacy that she failed to take a seat, but said he was “over the moon” at retaining his seat.
“Your second election is the litmus test,” he said, “and I’d like to thank my team because you are nothing without them. There were 15, 20, people, all volunteers out with me every night.”
