Galway East 5th Count: Killilea eliminated
The fifth count has been completed for the Galway East constituency – It was the distribution of the Green’s Eoin Madden’s votes and Sinn Fein’s Louis O’Hara, as expected, was the main beneficiary and it would be something of a shock if he didn’t go on to capture a seat.
Predictions that he may not have been transfer-friendly have proven unfounded as he received a significant boost from the Green Party candidate to now put him more than 1,300 ahead of third-placed Ciarán Cannon who is now expected to take the third seat ahead of party colleague Cllr Pete Roche.
But the big shock is Fianna Fáil looking like relinquishing a seat in what has traditionally been an FF stronghold but outgoing TD Anne Rabbitte has too much ground to make up. She is trailing O’Hara by more than 2,300 votes and would need a huge transfer from Donagh Killilea in order to survive.
After the fifth count, Donagh Killilea was eliminated and his 5,171 are being distributed. Poll topper Sean Canney will benefit hugely from this given that they are both Belclare natives and could even reach the quota of 10,631.
The biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the arrival of Sean Canney and his wife Geraldine to the count centre at Presentation College, Headford.
Number of seats: 3 Electorate: 69,233 Total poll: 42,858 Spoiled votes: 338 Total valid poll: 42,520 Quota: 10,631
FIFTH COUNT Distribution of Madden’s votes Sean Canney (Ind) +454 8,785 Louis O’Hara (SF) +792 8,441 Ciaran Cannon (FG) +578 7,114 Pete Roche (FG) +212 6,392 Anne Rabbitte (FF) +178 6,121 Donagh Killilea (FF) +105 5,171 Killilea eliminated.
FOURTH COUNT Distribution of Reid and Spelman transfers Sean Canney (Ind) +189 8,331 Louis O’Hara (SF) +355 7,649 Ciaran Cannon (FG) +210 6,536 Pete Roche (FG) +90 6,180 Anne Rabbitte (FF) +123 5,943 Donagh Killilea (FF) +62 5,066 Eoin Madden (GP) +670 2,647 Madden eliminated
THIRD COUNT Distribution Ward’s votes Sean Canney (Ind) +248 8,142 Louis O’Hara (SF) +117 7,294 Ciaran Cannon (FG) +19 6,326 Pete Roche (FG) +50 6,090 Anne Rabbitte (FF) +44 5,820 Donagh Killilea (FF) +58 5,004 Eoin Madden (GP) +35 1,977 Peter Reid (Soc Dem) +25 892 Marian Spelman (Lab) +27 890 Reid and Spelman eliminated
SECOND COUNT Distribution of O’Reilly, MacCanna votes Sean Canney (Ind) +79 7,894 Louis O’Hara (SF) +69 7,177 Ciaran Cannon (FG) +9 6,307 Pete Roche (FG) +6 6,040 Anne Rabbitte (FF) +14 5,776 Donagh Killilea (FF) +14 4,946 Eoin Madden (GP) +18 1,942 Peter Reid (Soc Dem) +19 867 Marian Spelman (Lab) +18 863 Martin Ward (Aon) +88 670 Ward eliminated.
FIRST COUNT
Sean Canney (Ind): 7,815 Louis O’Hara (SF) 7,108 Ciaran Cannon (FG) 6,298 Pete Roche (FG) 6,034 Anne Rabbitte (FF) 5,762 Donagh Killilea (FF) 4,932 Eoin Madden (GP) 1,924 Peter Reid (Soc Dem) 848 Marian Spelman (Lab) 845 Martin Ward (Aon) 582 David O’Reilly (Ind) 246 Deaglan MacCanna (Ren) 126 O’Reilly, MacCanna eliminated