The people of Roscommon-Galway elected outgoing TDs Michael Fitzmaurice (Independent Ireland) and Claire Kerrane (Sinn Féin) along with first-time candidate Dr Martin Daly (Fianna Fáil) in last Friday’s General Election.
Counting of votes commenced at the Dr Hyde Centre on Saturday morning and concluded late on Sunday afternoon. From the final tallies on Saturday morning it had been quite clear that this wouldn’t be a nail-biting count, with the three who went on to be elected being clear of the other contenders.
The people of this traditionally unpredictable constituency voted overwhelmingly to retain their two incumbent TDs, i.e. Fitzmaurice (Independent Ireland) and Kerrane (Sinn Féin).
Fianna Fáil regained the seat that they lost in 2020, with newcomer Dr Martin Daly from Ballygar being elected along with Claire Kerrane on the seventh and final count. Michael Fitzmaurice was elected on the first count on Saturday evening, retaining his poll-topping status for a second election in a row, this time with 12,002 first preference votes.
The Glinsk man took the lion’s share of the votes in boxes close to his home base but also won the majority of votes in numerous boxes in North and South Roscommon in places such as Rooskey, Fourmilehouse and Brideswell.
Of the electorate of 62,727, 41,332 people cast their votes last Friday, meaning the turnout was 65.9%. 204 votes 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) finished just short of the winning post. She won 4,843 first preferences before being eliminated on the final count when on 7,593 votes.
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
Following the distribution of Fitzmaurice’s surplus of 1,719 votes, non-party candidate Vincent Beirne was eliminated and his 234 votes, including second preferences, were distributed.
On the third count, no candidate was elected and the two lowest polling remaining candidates, Martina O’Connor of the Green Party (449) and Alan Sweeney of The Irish People (306 votes) were eliminated. Counting was adjourned before 1 am on Sunday morning before resuming at 10 am, with the distribution of the eliminated candidates’ votes.
Count four also saw the elimination of two candidates, with none of the other candidates being elected. Ó Corcoráin of Aontú and Mannion of People Before Profit-Solidarity were eliminated, having reached 1,031 and 1,006 votes respectively.
The fifth count came relatively swiftly. Again, no candidate was elected, and this count saw the elimination of Fine Gael’s Dympna Daly-Finn (from Arigna), and the 2,425 votes she had secured being distributed.
Ms Daly-Finn transferred well to her party running mate, Ballinasloe-based Aisling Dolan. She gained 1,397 votes, which saw former Fianna Fáil senator Eugene Murphy fall back into fifth place on the sixth count. He was eliminated, and his 5,779 votes were then distributed, leading to the election of Sinn Féin’s Claire Kerrane with 11,087 votes (having exceeded the quota) and Fianna Fáil’s Dr Martin Daly being elected without reaching the quota with 10,234 votes.
In their acceptance speeches, the three elected candidates paid tribute to retiring TD Denis Naughten (formerly Fine Gael, also Independent) and acknowledged the recent sad passing of his brother John, who had been chosen as a Fine Gael candidate for this election. They offered their sympathies to Denis and the entire Naughten family.
