Westport has one of the smallest fields running in the county for the June 5 election, with eight candidates putting their hats in the ring for the four seats. The major shift on the political landscape from the last local elections is the absence of one Frank Chambers from the ticket. The Newport based auctioneer has been a mainstay of politics in this area for a number of years, but with the redrawing of the boundaries seeing half the town of Newport being given over to Belmullet, Chambers decided to step away from the political circle. That leaves the three sitting councillors, Margaret Adams, Austin Francis O’Malley and John O’Malley, fighting it out with five others for the seats. The other declarations for the election are Caroline Nevin (Fianna Fáil ), Peter Flynn (Fine Gael ), Keith Martin (Labour ), Dave Keating (Sinn Féin ) and independent candidate Andy Wilson.
Last time around it was Fianna Fáil one-two with Adams taking the first seat on the fourth count with a 17 per cent share of the votes, taking 1,414 first preference votes. Chambers was not too far behind with almost a 16 percent share of the votes, so it is going to be a big ask for newcomer Caroline Nevin from Louisburgh to keep the party’s second seat in the area. Adams has been a town councillor in the town since 1974, was first elected to Mayo County Council in 1999, and should be the party’s banker seat in the area.
Fine Gael looking for the hat-trick
Fine Gael will be hoping to pick up three seats this time around as the party rides on the crests of the general feeling of upset towards the government parties. The last election saw their three candidates running this time engage in a right old battle for the two seats, with Peter Flynn being pipped at the post despite taking 1,132 first preference votes. He was ahead of Austin Francis O’Malley up until the fourth count when a massive 442 votes went into the Louisburgh man’s pile thanks to transfers from Peter Sweeney after his elimination, compared to the 55 which went to Flynn on that division of transfers. Flynn has thrown his lot in for the county council this time, and decided to not contest the seat he holds on the Westport Town Council. If Flynn can do as well again this time and the two sitting Fine Gael councillors keep up their performance, then the party has a very good chance of taking the three seats in the area.
Coming in from the left
But while Fine Gael’s tide may be rising, so too are the parties of the left, with Labour’s Keith Martin and Sinn Féin’s Dave Keating, both of whom are sitting town councillors, sure to put up a fight for one of the seats. Keating was the poll topper in that town council, getting elected on the first count, while Martin, then as an independent, was the last man over the line on the ninth count. Martin has been growing his profile since his election to the town council, while Keating will be hoping to build on his strong showing in the town last time out, where he topped the poll the first time he ran for election. The last candidate in the field is Andy Wilson who is behind the Sustainability Institute, which tries to promote sustainability in food, transport, energy, and other areas. Wilson is a former member of the Green party but left because of disagreement on policy issues and he will be a serious outsider when assessing who will be in the shake up when the votes are counted on June 6.
