While the headlines may have been grabbed in the past few weeks with councillors urging the people of the town not to vote for a former councillor who has decided to come back for some more, the race for the nine seats in Castlebar Town Council promises to be one of the most exciting in the county.
Of the nine who were elected last time, only six are going back to the people with Johnny Mee and Sean Bourke retiring from politics and Noel Campbell being forced to give up his seat. Sinn Féin replaced Campbell on the council with Thérése Ruane at the start of the year, while Harry Barrett, who only lost out on a seat last time around for Labour, replaced Johnny Mee.
Getting the vote management right
Fianna Fáil were the losers last time when Campbell picked up the seat for Sinn Féin, with Pat King losing out. In 2004 Fianna Fáil’s decision to run six candidates could be seen as a reason for their loss of a seat as their vote management didn’t work out as they would have hoped. This time around they are running four candidates, with King back on the ballot paper alongside sitting councillors Aidan Crowley and Blackie Gavin (both also running for the county council ) and newcomer Stephen Lavelle. Fine Gael ran five candidates last time around and picked up three seats, with Eugene McCormack just holding off Harry Barrett for the last seat. This time they have decided to put six people forward for the contest, trying to capitalise on the surge in support for the party in opinion polls over the last year. Councillors Brendan Henaghan, Eugene McCormack and current Castlebar Mayor Kevin Guthrie are all back on the ticket and should hold on to their seats. But in running such a large field vote management will be key if they are to pick up the one or two extra seats they hope to from their other three candidates, Ger Deere, Noreen Heston, and Okey Williams-Kalu.
The left wing and coming back for more
Labour will have high hopes that recently co-opted Cllr Harry Barrett will at least retain the party’s seat on the council, while Bernie Courtney is also on their ticket. Labour held two seats on the council before in 1999 when Johnny Mee and then Labour member Michael Kilcoyne were elected together, but Kilcoyne has been flying solo for the past five years and will be again next Friday.
Kilcoyne is one of three independents putting themselves forward, alongside Frank Durcan and Eddie Kipwene. While Kipwene is an unknown proposition, the long-standing and experienced Durcan is in with a serious prospect of taking back the seat he gave up at the 2004 elections. Last time he stood for the Town Council, Durcan was one of four to break the quota on the first count and the Castlebar auctioneer will be looking for a similar large first preference turn out. That election saw Kilcoyne just about hold off Brendan Henaghan to take the last seat, but in the space of five years he managed to double his first preference vote and top the poll and is among the favourites to be first past the post again this time around.
With 16 candidates going forward and nine seats up for the taking, things will get very interesting in Castlebar once the ballot boxes are opened and the first tallies done in the TF on June 6.
