There was high drama in Castlebar as night was turning into day when the fourth count of the Swinford area pulled Joe Mellett, the Cathaoirleach of the last term of the previous council, back from the death. From early in the afternoon when the first tallies were done it was looking like Mellett was going to lose out to Fianna Fáil's first time candidate Michael Smyth.
The first count saw Smyth take 1,152 first preference votes with Mellett ahead of him on 1,159 votes. When Gerry Murray's surplus was distributed it gave Smyth a slight advantage going into the third count where the transfers of the eliminated Slyvia Spain, Cathal Henry and John Healy were distributed, leaving Eugene Lavin and Jimmy Maloney in pole position to take two of the other seats and Mellett and Smyth locked in a battle royal for the last seat with Mellett ahead by 151. But the votes from Smyth's running mate John Caulfield were yet to be shared out. Caulfield polled well, gaining 983 first preference votes and 1,173 before he was eliminated in the third count, which with proper vote management should have swung Smyth's way. But the second preference were divvied out as the sun began to rise over the count centre, with 127 going to Mellett to leave him on 1,563 votes and 223 to Smyth leaving him on 1,508. Eugene Lavin went over the quota thanks to getting 265 second preference votes from Caulfield, giving him a surplus of 43 and 55 between both Mellett and Smyth, well within recount range, but Smyth didn't go for it, leaving Jimmy Maloney and Joe Mellett to join poll topper Gerry Murray in Mayo County Council for the next five years. At the end of a hectic day and night’s counting everything stayed the way it was in 2004 with the same four councillors being returned, unlike any other council in Mayo over the course of these elections.
FF failed to pull extra seat
Even with the current ill feeling towards the Government, this was the one area where many predicted that Fianna Fáil could pull an extra seat and somehow put a hole in the Fine Gael sail. Fianna Fáil were the most popular party in the area, with voters pulling in 3,348 first preference votes or 39.34 per cent of the vote. Both Smyth and Maloney pulled in over 1,000 first preferences, with John Caulfield coming very close to doing the same. Yet the fact that they were still only to elect one candidate will lead to some serious talking and thinking amongst the party faithful in east Mayo over the next five years.
Sinn Féin's Gerry Murray once again showed his popularity by blowing the quota on the first time of asking with an outstanding first preference vote of 2,218, 414 over the quota. The Charlestown based former general election candidate was first elected in 1999 on a Fianna Fáil ticket before defecting to Sinn Féin after the turn of the century and was returned in 2004 to the council as a Sinn Féin candidate. His continuing large turn out, combined with the election of Rose Conway Walsh in Belmullett and the so near yet so far story of Therese Ruane in the Castlebar Electoral Area, shows the growth of the party in the council over the last number of years. Murray actually got 681 more first preference votes than the combined total of both Mellett and Henry for Fine Gael.
Fine Gael hearts were happy after Mellett's election, but they will know themselves they might not get so lucky next time around, taking 649 fewer first preference votes than Fianna Fáil had them rightly worried, as they tried to hold on to their two councillors in the area. Taking two seats compared to their main opponent’s one when they claimed 39.34 per cent of the popular poll compared to 32.14 per cent of the same poll was a huge turn around in the end. But when the party is riding on the crest of a wave both nationally and locally, they will know that they should have done better. But at the end of the day both their two main candidates, Joe Mellett and Eugene Lavin, did enough to get past the post after a strong surge up the final furlong.
Swinford Electoral Area
Total poll: 9,147
Valid poll: 9,018
Quota: 1,804
Seats: 4
COUNT ONE
Caulfield John FF 938
Healy John Ind 175
Henry Cathal FG 468
Lavin Eugene FG 1272
Maloney Jimmy FF 1,438
Mellett Joe FG 1,159
Murray Gerry SF 2,218
Smyth Michael FF 1,152
Spain, Sylvia Ind 198
Gerry Murray elected. Murray’s surplus to be distributed next count.
COUNT TWO
Caulfield John FF 1,038 (+100 )
Healy John Ind 210 (+35 )
Henry Cathal FG 544 (+76 )
Lavin Eugene FG 1,311 (+39 )
Maloney Jimmy FF 1,461 (+23 )
Mellett Joe FG 1,209 (+50 )
Smyth Michael FF 1,220 (+68 )
Spain, Sylvia Ind 221 (+23 )
John Healy, Cathal Henry and Sylvia Spain eliminated. Their votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT THREE
Caulfield John FF 1,173 (+135 )
Lavin Eugene FG 1,582 (+271 )
Maloney Jimmy FF 1,526 (+65 )
Mellett Joe FG 1,436 (+227 )
Smyth Michael FF 1,285 (+65 )
John Caulfield eliminated. Caulfield’s votes were to be distributed next count.
COUNT FOUR
Lavin Eugene FG 1,847 (+265 )
Maloney Jimmy FF 1,771 (+245 )
Mellett Joe FG 1,563 (+127 )
Smyth Michael FF 1,508 (+223 )
Michael Smyth eliminated. Eugene Lavin elected. Jimmy Maloney and Joe Mellett elected without reaching the quota.
Swinford Electoral Area
Joe Mellett FG
Eugene Lavin FG
Jimmy Maloney FF
Gerry Murray SF
FG-2, FF-1, , SF-1
