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Daly joins Fitzmaurice and Kerrane in winner’s enclosure

Written by Emmett Corcoran on

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Counting has concluded for the Roscommon-Galway constituency. The people of this traditionally unpredictable constituency have voted overwhelmingly to retain their two incumbent TDs – Michael Fitzmaurice (Independent Ireland) and Claire Kerrane (Sinn Fein). Fianna Fail has managed to retake a seat that they lost in 2020, with newcomer Dr Martin Daly from Ballygar getting elected along with Claire Kerrane on the seventh and final count. Michael Fitzmaurice was elected on Saturday evening with 12,002 first preferences, retaining his poll-topping status for a second election in a row. The Glinsk man took the lion’s share of the votes in boxes close to his home but also won the majority of votes in numerous boxes in North and South Roscommon in places such as Rooskey, Four-Mile-House and Brideswell. 

The constituency has an electorate of 62,727 and 41,332 people cast their votes last Friday, of those 204 were deemed invalid resulting in a valid poll of 41,128. Following the first count on Saturday evening, Returning Officer Olivia Bushell declared the quota for the three-seater constituency to be 10,283. Kerrane secured 8,039 first preferences before being declared elected on the seventh and final count, having reached the quota with 11,087 votes. Her vote in every ballot box across the constituency broke double-digits. On the same count, Dr Martin Daly was elected with 10,234 votes, just 49 shy of the quota, having secured 7,283 first preferences.
For the second general election in a row, Fine Gael’s Aisling Dolan from Ballinasloe has finished in fourth place. She won 4,843 first preferences before being eliminated on the final count with 7,593. Former Fianna Fail Senator Eugene Murphy, who contested the election as an Independent (Non-Party) candidate, secured 4,327 first preferences and was eliminated following the sixth count.
The results of the first count of the remaining candidates were as follows:
Beirne (NP): 202
Ó Corcoráin (AON): 789
Daly-Finn (FG): 2,164
Mannion (PBP): 814
O’Connor (GP): 441
Sweeney (TIP): 224
From the final tallies on Saturday the state-of-play was quite clear at the Dr Hyde Centre in Roscommon and the count process and transfers threw up no surprises.
In their acceptance speeches, the three elected candidates paid tribute to retiring TD Denis Naughten (former-Fine Gael, Independent) and acknowledge the sad passing of his brother John Naughten offering their sympathies to Denis and the entire Naughten family.