Castlebar Town Council
Total poll: 4,910
Valid poll: 4,851
Quota: 486
Seats: 9
COUNT ONE
Barrett, Harry Lab 290
Courtney, Bernie Lab 61
Crowley, Aidan FF 214
Deere, Ger FG 341
Durcan, Frank Ind 507
Gavin, Blackie FF 295
Guthrie, Kevin FG 264
Heneghan, Brendan FG 392
Heston, Noreen FG 363
Kilcoyne, Michael Ind 965
Kimpwene, Eddie Ind 53
King, Pat FF 265
Lavelle, Stephen FF 112
McCormack, Eugene FG 282
Ruane, Therese SF 297
Willams-Kalu, Okey Ind 150
Michael Kilcoyne and Frank Durcan elected. Kilcoyne’s surplus to be distributed next count.
COUNT TWO
Barrett, Harry Lab 347 (+100 )
Courtney, Bernie Lab 71 (+16 )
Crowley, Aidan FF 236 (+22 )
Deere, Ger FG 381 (+40 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 332 (+37 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 309 (+45 )
Henaghan, Brendan FG 435 (+43 )
Heston, Noreen FG 405 (+43 )
Kimpwene, Eddie Lab 70 (+15 )
King, Pat FF 309 (+44 )
Lavelle, Stephen FF 133 (+21 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 326 (+44 )
Ruane, Therese SF 341 (+44 )
Willams-Kalu, Okey FG 15O (+13 )
No one elected or eliminated. Durcan’s surplus to be distributed next count.
COUNT THREE
Barrett, Harry Lab 349 (+2 )
Courtney, Bernie Lab 71 (+1 )
Crowley, Aidan FF 237 (+1 )
Deere, Ger FG 383 (+2 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 333 (+1 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 310 (+1 )
Henaghan, Brendan FG 438 (+3 )
Heston, Noreen FG 407 (+2 )
Kimpwene, Eddie Ind 71 (+1 )
King, Pat FF 311 (+2 )
Lavelle, Stephen FF 133 (+0 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 328 (+2 )
Ruane, Therese SF 343 (+2 )
Willams-Kalu, Okey FG 164 (+1 )
Eddie Kimpwene eliminated. Kimpwene’s votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT FOUR
Barrett, Harry Lab 354 (+5 )
Courtney, Bernie FF 75 (+5 )
Crowley, Aidan FF 239 (+2 )
Deere, Ger FG 387 (+4 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 333 (+0 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 312 (+2 )
Henaghan, Brendan FG 444 (+6 )
Heston, Noreen FG 416 (+9 )
King, Pat FF 318 (+7 )
Lavelle, Stephen FF 137 (+4 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 334 (+6 )
Ruane, Therese SF 345 (+2 )
Willams-Kalu, Okey FG 175 (+11 )
Bernie Courtney eliminated. Courtney’s votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT FIVE
Barrett, Harry Lab 378 (+24 )
Crowley, Aiden FF 241 (+2 )
Deere, Ger FG 392 (+5 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 335 (+2 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 317 (+5 )
Heneghan, Brendan FG 432 (+8 )
Heston, Noreen FG 422 (+6 )
King, Pat FF 370 (+2 )
Lavelle, Stephen FF 138 (+1 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 338 (+4 )
Ruane, Thérése SF 351 (+6 )
Willams-Kalu, Okey FG 181 (+6 )
Stephen Lavelle eliminated. Lavelle’s votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT SIX
Barrett, Harry Lab 383 (+5 )
Crowley, Aiden FF 255 (+14 )
Deere, Ger FG 405 (+16 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 353 (+18 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 323 (+6 )
Henaghan, Brendan FG 461 (+9 )
Heston, Noreen FG 430 (+6 )
King, Pat FF 347 (+29 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 344 (+6 )
Ruane, Therese SF 365 (+14 )
Willams-Kalu, Okey FG 188 (+7 )
Okey Willams-Kalu eliminated. Williams-Kalu’s votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT SEVEN
Barret, Harry Lab 408 (+25 )
Crowley, Aidan FF 258 (+3 )
Deere, Ger FG 435 (+27 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 355 (+2 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 335 (+12 )
Henaghan, Brendan FG 475 (+14 )
Heston, Noreen FG 470 (+40 )
King, Pat FF 352 (+2 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 354 (+0 )
Ruane, Therese SF 391 (+26 )
Aidan Crowley eliminated. Crowley’s votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT EIGHT
Barret, Harry Lab 433 (+25 )
Deere, Ger FG 456 (+21 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 405 (+50 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 351 (+16 )
Henaghan, Brendan FG 495 (+20 )
Heston, Noreen FG 480 (+10 )
King, Pat FF 395 (+43 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 379 (+25 )
Ruane, Therese SF 412 (+21 )
Brendan Henaghan elected. Henaghan’s surplus to be distributed next count.
COUNT NINE
Barret, Harry Lab 437 (+0 )
Deere, Ger FG 466 (+1 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 406 (+1 )
Guthrie, Kevin FG 351 (+0 )
Heston, Noreen FG 481 (+1 )
King, Pat FF 397 (+2 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 383 (+4 )
Ruane, Therese SF 412 (+0 )
Kevin Guthrie eliminated. Guthrie’s votes to be distributed next count.
COUNT TEN
Barrett, Harry Lab 467 (+34 )
Deere, Ger FG 523 (+66 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 451 (+45 )
Heston, Noreen FG 531 (+50 )
King, Pat FF 420 (+23 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 451 (+68 )
Ruane, Therese SF 432 (+20 )
Ger Deere and Noreen Heston elected. Heston’s surplus to be distributed next count.
COUNT ELEVEN
Barrett, Harry Lab 472 (+5 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 453 (+2 )
King, Pat FF 426 (+6 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 470 (+19 )
Ruane, Therese SF 439 (+7 )
No one elected or eliminated. Deere’s surplus to be distributed next count.
COUNT TWELVE
Barrett, Harry Lab 477 (+5 )
Gavin, Blackie FF 453 (+0 )
King, Pat FF 428 (+2 )
McCormack, Eugene FG 498 (+28 )
Ruane, Therese SF 441 (+2 )
Eugene McCormack elected after reaching quota. Harry Barret, Blackie Gavin and Therese Ruane elected without reaching quota. Pat King eliminated.
It may have been just less than a month early for Independence Day celebrations, but it was an independents’ day in the Castlebar Town Council last Saturday. While Fine Gael won four seats in the council, the big story was the polling of the two independents Cllr Michael Kilcoyne and newly re-elected Cllr Frank Durcan. Both men broke the quota on the first count in Day's Hotel with Kilcoyne polling a phenomenal 965 first preference votes - almost double the quota which was set at 486 and Durcan comfortably getting in on the first count with 507 first preference votes.
Of the nine members elected to the town council only four of the candidates who were elected five years ago were re-elected, along with the two members (Harry Barrett, Labour and Thérése Ruane, Sinn Féin ) who were co-opted on to the council at the turn of the year.
Two sitting councillors failed to retain their seats with Fianna Fáil's Aidan Crowley getting eliminated on the fifth count after polling only 214 first preference votes and ending up with a total of 241 votes by the time he was knocked out of the race. Also not returning to the council for the new term will be the mayor of the previous council Kevin Guthrie. The Fine Gael man got 264 first preference votes and ended up with 453 votes before being eliminated on the 11th count.
Along with the independents the other big story of this election was the performance and ultimate election of newcomer to the political scene Noreen Heston of Fine Gael who pulled in 363 first preference votes - a phenomenal number for a first time candidate. She had to wait until the 10th count, having been stuck just 16 shy of the quota from the seventh count. Heston said in this paper previously that she was going to try to knock on every door in the town while on the hustings and proved to be a successful tactic as she made the council on her first attempt. The other Fine Gael newcomer on the council, Ger Deere, is not new to the ways of politics having served a long apprenticeship within the party and having run Deputy Enda Kenny's office for the last number of years. Deere also got in on the 10th count when he went over the quota with 523 after polling a respectable 341 first preference votes. The last person to break the quota was Fine Gael's Eugene McCormack (who had more reason to celebrate later on in the weekend as he was also elected to the county council ) with 498 votes on the 12th count after getting 282 first preference votes.
The last three seats on the council were filled by Harry Barrett of Labour, who missed out on election to the council last time by a tiny number of votes — he failed to meet the quota this time — ending up with 477 votes. The last two seats went to two people who would square up for the final seat on the county council later on in the weekend, with Blackie Gavin holding off his party colleague Pat King to take the only seat on the council for Fianna Fáil, and Thérése Ruane of Sinn Féin holding on to the seat won by Noel Campbell last time and co-opted to her earlier this year.
Figures tell a sorry tale for government party
Figures don't lie, but Fianna Fáil members may well wish they did when they go back over the numbers from this election.
Fianna Fáil saw its representation in the council drop by two thirds as it only managed to hold on to one of the three seats it held previously. Out of a valid poll of 4,851, Fianna Fáil only managed to secure 886 first preference votes across its four candidates, which translates into a 18.26 per cent of the poll. Those numbers will make for hard reading for some of its supporters, especially when they see that Fine Gael managed to take 1,792 first preference votes in the election or 36.94 per cent of the vote, more than double that of Fianna Fáil. But the real big story of the county was the performance of the two Independent candidates. Ten years ago Michael Kilcoyne was the last man to get elected to Castlebar Town Council when he was elected on the 10th count without making the quota. What a difference a decade makes, Kilcoyne took an astonishing 965 first preference votes which is 19.82 per cent of the popular vote. The last election that Frank Durcan contested was that same 1999 election where he was safely elected. There were no worries again this time around for Durcan where he polled 507 first preference votes to make the quota on the first count taking 10.45 per cent of the first preference votes.
Castlebar Town Council
Ger Deere FG
Brendan Henaghan FG
Noreen Heston FG
Eugene McCormack FG
Harry Barrett Lab
Michael Kilcoyne Ind
Frank Durcan Ind
Therese Ruane SF
Blackie Gavin FF
FG-4, FF-1, Lab-1, Ind-2, SF-1
