Total poll: 4,590
Valid pollL 4,522
Quota: 453
Seats: 9
COUNT ONE
Collins Ray Ind 138
Clarke Peter Ind 369
Cribbin Sandra FF 203
Downey Michael FF 161
Flynn Bernard Ind 59
Ginty Gerry Ind 669
Kelly Mary Ind 282
McAndrew Frances FF 216
McLoughlin Barry FG 488
Martin Brian FG 87
Mulherin Michelle FG 773
Nolan Willie FF 304
O’Malley Johnny FF 462
Winters Mark FG 311
Elected Michelle Mulherin, Gerry Ginty, Barry McLoughlin, Johnny O’Malley.
Mulherin surplus distributed next count.
COUNT TWO
Collins Ray Ind 157 (+19 )
Clarke Peter Ind 398 (+29 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 217 (+14 )
Downey Michael FF 170 (+9 )
Flynn Bernard Ind 66 (+7 )
Kelly Mary Ind 308 (+26 )
McAndrew Frances FF 238 (+22 )
Martin Brian FG 138 (+51 )
Nolan Willie FF 326 (+22 )
Winters Mark FG 432 (+121 )
No one elected. Ginty’s surplus distributed next count.
COUNT THREE
Collins Ray Ind 81 (+24 )
Clarke Peter Ind 450 (+52 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 234 (+17 )
Downey Michael FF 185 (+15 )
Flynn Bernard Ind 76 (+10 )
Kelly Mary Ind 336 (+28 )
McAndrew Frances FF 253 (+15 )
Martin Brian FG 155 (+17 )
Nolan Willie FF 338 (+12 )
Winters Mark FG 458 (+26 )
Mark Winters elected. McLoughlin surplus distributed next count.
COUNT FOUR
Collins Ray Ind 186 (+5 )
Clarke Peter Ind 454 (+4 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 237 (+3 )
Downey Michael FF 187 (+2 )
Flynn Bernard Ind 77 (+1 )
Kelly Mary Ind 340 (+4 )
McAndrew Frances FF 258 (+5 )
Martin Brian FG 162 (+7 )
Nolan Willie FF 342 (+4 )
Peter Clarke elected and Bernard Flynn eliminated. Flynn’s votes distributed next count.
COUNT FIVE
Collins Ray Ind 193 (+7 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 242 (+5 )
Downey Michael FF 196 (+9 )
Kelly Mary Ind 351 (+11 )
McAndrew Frances FF 264 (+6 )
Martin Brian FG 177 (+15 )
Nolan Willie FF 345 (+3 )
Brian Martin eliminated. Martin’s votes distributed next count.
COUNT SIX
Collins Ray Ind 212 (+19 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 250 (+8 )
Downey Michael FF 208 (+12 )
Kelly Mary Ind 372 (+21 )
McAndrew Frances FF 275 (+11 )
Nolan Willie FF 351 (+6 )
No one elected or eliminated. O’Malley’s surplus distributed next count.
COUNT SEVEN
Collins Ray Ind 213 (+1 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 251 (+1 )
Downey Michael FF 209 (+1 )
Kelly Mary Ind 373 (+1 )
McAndrew Frances FF 278 (+3 )
Nolan Willie FF 353 (+2 )
No one elected or eliminated. Winters’ surplus distributed next count.
COUNT EIGHT
Collins Ray Ind 214 (+1 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 253 (+2 )
Downey Michael FF 210 (+1 )
Kelly Mary Ind 373 (+0 )
McAndrew Frances FF 279 (+1 )
Nolan Willie FF 353 (+0 )
Michael Downey eliminated. Downey’s votes distributed next count.
COUNT NINE
Collins Ray Ind 244 (+30 )
Cribbin Sandra FF 290 (+37 )
Kelly Mary Ind 403 (+30 )
McAndrew Frances FF 306 (+27 )
Nolan Willie FF 365 (+12 )
Ray Collins eliminated. Collins’ votes distributed next count.
COUNT TEN
Cribbin Sandra FF 330 (+40 )
Kelly Mary Ind 450 (+47 )
McAndrew Frances FF 355 (+49 )
Nolan Willie FF 382 (+17 )
Mary Kelly, Willie Nolan and Frances McAndrew elected without reaching the quota. Sandra Cribbin eliminated.
Ginty’s ‘stop the waste’ campaign struck a cord with the electorate
A swing from Fianna Fáil did not just go in Fine Gael’s way last weekend but also saw six independents being elected to the three town councils in Mayo and five being elected to Mayo County Council.
Ballina Town Council now has an even split with three Independents, three Fianna Fáil councillors, and three Fine Gael councillors.
Two sitting councillors (Fianna Fail’s Padraic Moore and former PD turned Independent councillor Tommy Cooke ) have been replaced by Gerry Ginty and first timer Barry McLoughlin (FG ).
Independents were said to be benefiting from protest votes, and none more so than Gerry Ginty who made a return to politics having first stood 35 years ago. Ginty’s ‘stop the waste’ campaign struck a cord in the north Mayo capital and saw him also secure a seat on the Ballina Electoral Area committee, somewhat to his surprise. But he certainly wasn’t surprised about his success in the town council election with early tallies indicating that he had received a massive first preference vote, just behind poll topper Michelle Mulherin.
According to Ginty the people of Ballina felt the outgoing council were not representing them in the way they should. He accused the previous council of not being welcoming to tourists, business and commerce, but he said the new council would have to work together to make Ballina a more welcoming town.
The ‘bridge to nowhere’ seems to have raised the shackles of the Ballina electorate who complained to Ginty that no money was spent locally on materials or labour during the construction of the pedestrian structure.
Ginty, who said he has no desire for chairmanships or committees and does not want anything out of politics for himself, said he will be urging all politicians to take a cut in their salaries and cut out junkets.
This is the fourth time that Ginty has been elected and he said he knew he would be successful because people looked him in the eye and told him they were giving him their number one.
Ginty was elected on the first count on Saturday with Mulherin, first timer Barry McLoughlin (FG ) and sitting councillor Johnny O’Malley - who later lost his county council seat.
McLoughlin’s cheek
McLoughlin admitted he had a “bit of a cheek” to get elected after the first count when some councillors who had worked hard over the past five years were struggling to get elected. But he expressed his delight that Fine Gael gained a seat on Ballina Town Council and suggested that in the current climate they could have won a fourth.
His fellow Fine Gaeler Mark Winters said his campaign focused on local issues while highlighting community policing was an important issue for him. Minister John Gormley should be strengthening local government, not diluting it, according to Cllr Winters, who said the electorate want councillors to have certain powers.
And while Fine Gael were celebrating it was definitely Michelle Mulherin’s day having topped both the town and Ballina Electoral Area polls with votes to spare.
Mulherin has certainly set herself up for general election success should one be called any time soon and all it will take is a good Fine Gael strategy to get her over the line.
While she was unsuccessful in the last general election, Mulherin said the experience she gained was invaluable and she will put it to use to continue to fight for the people of Ballina and the whole electoral area. Mulherin put last weekend’s success down to a swing against Fianna Fáil with the biggest issue in her area being the high level of unemployment. “People who subscribed to the ideals of the Celtic Tiger are disillusioned with the Government,” she said after the count.
She said a strong message has gone out to the Government and added, “It’s always a great day when we see democracy in action”. Peter Clarke, who was elected as a Sinn Féin councillor last time round, stood as an Independent this time and this certainly worked to his advantage with him taking the sixth seat.
The nine councillors on Ballina Town Council are Michelle Mulherin (FG ), Gerry Ginty (Ind ), Barry McLoughlin (FG ), Johnny O’Malley (FF ), Mark Winters (FG ), Peter Clarke (Ind ), Mary Kelly (Ind ), Willie Nolan (FF ) and Frances McAndrew (FF ), elected in that order.
