Galway Local Election LIVE results show first candidates past the post
Welcome to Galway Beo's Local Election results LIVE blog. We will have the very latest from all the counts around Galway centres as well as the rest of Ireland. Updates will appear at the very bottom of this article in our live editor. You can also keep up with every piece of action from Day Two of results in our other live blog here.
Thomas Welby met the quota in Connemara North on the first count 1,758 and is deemed elected, Gerald King is on 1,435, Seamus Walsh 1,525, and Eileen Mannion is on 1,425. Quota is 1,591. On the second count, Seamus Walsh added 72 votes, to pass the quota with a total of 1,597. No candidates were elected on the third count - Tom Healy was eliminated and were first preference votes were transferred. Eileen Mannion 1,684 and Gerry King on 1,663 were elected on the fourth count to end the count as all four seats were filled.
In Gort-Kinvara, four councillors confirmed - Geraldine Donoghue (Ind) reached the quota of 1,658 - Martina Kinnane on 1,884 and PJ Murphy on 1,953 deemed elected. Paul Killilea (FG) met the quota on the second count with 1,717. No candidate was elected on the third count and Alan Sweeney was eliminated.
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No candidate was elected on the fourth count - Lucina Kelly was eliminated and her votes were transferred. On the fifth count, Gerry Finnerty was deemed elected from the distribution on votes, but did not reach the quota - and with that, all five councillors were selected and counting ceased.
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Galway City East Quota is 1,144 - the first count saw no candidates elected, two candidates were eliminated on the first count, Arkaduisz Wozniak and Conor Dowd. Count 2 saw David Lynch has been eliminated and his votes distributed. No candidate passed the quote on the second count. Lynch's transfers eeked a few councillors towards the finish line but no-one hit the magic number. Denman Rooke has been eliminated after three counts and their votes will be distributed.
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The fourth count in Galway City East once again saw no-one reach the 1,144 quota. Susan Feeney was eliminated and her 120 votes were sent back for transfer. The fifth count saw no candidate reach the quota and Cormac Ó'Corcaráin was eliminated with his vote going back for distribution. The sixth count saw Conor Burke eliminated and his votes were redistributed. The seventh and eighth counts also failed to get one over the line as Jacinta Gibbons and Joyce Mathias respectively were eliminated and their votes went back in the mixer.
Quota in Tuam was 1,920 and Fine Gael’s Cllr. Andrew Reddington passed the quota with 2,784 votes on the first count. Cllr. Pete Roche (FG) also passed the quota with 2,553 on the first count.
A late, late show at the count centre saw Mike Cubbard and Eddie Hoare sail past the quota on the first count for Galway City Central.
Just under half of everyone living in Galway did their civic duty once again and streamed to the polls on Friday 7 June.
Now, with ballot boxes shut since 10pm on Friday, the tallymen and women have stepped forward and have been busy counting since 9am on Saturday with the first count results expected around the afternoon at Westside for the City votes and Galway Lawn Tennis Club for County.
126 candidates ran campaigns in ten LEAs - 81 candidates stood for the 39 seats of the Galway County Council's seven LEAs, while 45 candidates ran for the 18 seats of Galway City Council's three LEAs.
Average turnout for Galway county and city was just under 50% at 47 percent with Moycullen the best at turning out with 61%.
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Second was Spiddal at 54% followed by Kinvara at 53% and Athenry and Salthill at 52%. The rest were: Tuam 50%, Knocknacarra 48%, Bushypark 48%, Ballybane 47% Oranmore 47%, Gort 47%, Clifden 46%, Claregalway 46%, Loughrea 45%, Westside 45%, Ballinasloe 45% and Renmore 43%.
More than 2,100 people ran in the local elections.
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365 for FF, 339 for FG, 335 for Sinn Fein, 129 for Greens and 109 for Labour as well as 532 for Independent and other
Social Democrats 77; Aontú 66; Independent Ireland 60; The Irish People 55; People Before Profit-Solidarity 53; Irish Freedom Party 28; National Party 15
There are three Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) in the city - West, Central and East. And, there are seven LEAs in the county - Athenry-Oranmore, Ballinsaloe, Connemara North, Connemara South, Gort-Kinvara, Loughrea and Tuam.
Galway City Central gets six seats as does Galway City West and Galway City East; while Athenry-Oranmore gets 7 seats, six for Ballinasloe, four for Connemara North but five for Connemara South, five for Gort-Kinvara as well as Loughrea and seven for Tuam.
The count in Ireland is different to those seen in other countries, our system is a PR-STV system (Proportional Represtation - Single Transferrable Vote). This means that voters chose their candidates in order of preference by marking the boxes next their candidates on the ballot with a 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on.
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Voters could select one candidate only, or fill their ballot. So long as there are only numbers in the boxes, and each number is used only once, the ballot is valid.
During the first count, only first preference votes are counted, if a candidate (or candidates) reaches the quota, they are deemed elected. The quota is the total valid votes cast divided by the number of seats plus one. For example, if there are 10,000 votes in a five-seater, the quota is 2,001.
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After the first count, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The eliminated candidate and the candidate (or candidates) who have been deemed elected have their second preference votes counted to see if another candidate can reach the quota.
This process takes place until all seats are filled by candidates who have reached the quota, or there are only the number of candidates left to match the number of remaining seats. It's complicated, but it makes sure the electorate's choices are broadly represented.
In First Past the Post systems, smaller parties and independents are often squeezed out and dominant two-party systems tend to develop into a duopoly. This is most readily seen in the US and in Britain.
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The ten council LEAs of Galway city and county were represented with distinction for five years for the total cohort of 57 councillors.
Athenry-Oranmore was represented by Cathaoirleach Liam Carroll, Cllr James Charity, Cllr. Shelly Herterich Quinn, Cllr. Gabriel Cronnelly, Cllr. David Collins, Cllr. Jim Cuddy and Cllr. Albert Dolan.
Thirteen candidates were on the ballot for Ballinasloe: Sitting councillors Cllr. Dermot Connolly, Cllr. Michael Connolly, Cllr. Declan Geraghty, Cllr. Peter Keaveney and Leas Chathaoirleach Dr Evelyn Francis Parsons all sought re-election. Cllr. Tim Broderick did not run. They were joined on the ballot by three newcomers, Regan Maher (Sinn Féin), Alan Harney (Fine Gael) and Andrew Mannion (People Before Profit).
Connemara South was represented by Fine Gael's Cllr Padraig Mac An Iomaire, Fianna Fáil's Cllr Dáithí O Cualáin, Republican Sinn Féin's Cllr Tomás Ó Curraoin and Independent Ireland's Cllr Noel Thomas. Connemara North was represented by Fianna Fáil's Cllr Gerard King, Fine Gael's Cllr Eileen Mannion, Independent Ireland's Cllr Séamus Walsh and independent Cllr Thomas Welby.
Gort-Kinvara was represented by Cllr. Joe Byrne, Cllr. Gerry Finnerty, Cllr. Geraldine Donohue, Cllr. Martina Kinane, and Cllr. PJ Murphy. Loughrea was represented by Cllr Ivan Canning, Cllr Shane Curley,Cllr Michael Maher, Cllr Jimmy McClearn, Independent Cllr Declan Kelly.
Loughrea had: Ivan Canning, Shane Curley, Declan Kelly, Mark Larkin, Michael 'Moegie' Maher, Jimmy McClearn, John Anthony McGettigan, Ailish O'Reilly and Michelle Tooher Madden running.
While Tuam had a plethora of people running. The list included: Cllr. Mary Hoade (FF), Cllr. Donagh Mark Killilea (FF), Cllr. Karey McHugh Farag (Ind.), Cllr. Andrew Reddington (FG), Cllr Peter Roche (FG) and Cllr. Joe Sheridan (FF), Ross Culligan (National Party), Seán Cunniffe (Ind.), Danann Gaughan (The Irish People), Saudique-Kadejo (Green), Stiofán de Lundres Ó Dálaigh (Sinn Féin), Blessing Oguekwe (Labour), Tom Quirke (FF), Deborah Reynolds (Sinn Féin), Luke Peter Silke (Aontú), Colin Lynch (Ind.) and Ollie Turner (FG).
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Galway City West ward was represented by Peter Keane (Fianna Fáil), John Connolly (Fianna Fáil), Donal Lyons (Non-Party), Clodagh Higgins (Fine Gael) and Niall McNelis (The Labour Party) and Niall Murphy (Green Party/Comhaontas Glas).
Galway City Central was represented by Colette Connolly (Independent), Mike Cubbard (Independent), Martina O'Connor (Green Party), Imelda Byrne (Fianna Fáil), Eddie Hoare (Fine Gael) and Frank Fahy (Fine Gael).
Galway city east was represented by Fianna Fáil's Cllr Alan Cheevers and Cllr Michael John Crowe, Social Democrats Cllr Alan Curran and independent Cllr Noel Larkin, Cllr Declan McDonell and Cllr Terry O'Flaherty.
This is a LIVE article, updates from the polling station will be posted below...
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