Galway East 6th Count: Rabbitte back in contention
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Fianna Fáil’s Anne Rabbitte is back in contention to retain her seat following an unprecedented transfer of more than 2,500 votes from party colleague Donagh Killilea.
Her hopes of retaining that seat looked dead and buried when she was languishing 2,320 votes behind Sinn Fáin’s Louis O’Hara and it seemed an impossible task to make up the ground – even with a party running mate being eliminated.
But she has made significant ground on O’Hara and now just lies 123 votes behind as Fine Gael’s Pete Roche has now been eliminated.
It is widely speculated at the count centre in Headford that Roche’s transfers will ultimately elect Rabbitte given the fact that her mother hails from Abbeyknockmoy, which is also Roche’s home country.
For some considerable time during this count, it looked as if the Athenry-based O’Hara was in line for a seat but it now seems that he will come up just short of the target.
Pete Roche’s transfers should elect sitting TDs Ciarán Cannon (PD) and Sean Canney (Ind) as well as leaving Rabbitte safe for the third seat. If she were to hold on, it would mean that all three sitting TDs will be returned in Galway East – as was widely predicted.
Photo: Pete Roche with family and supporters after his elimination.
Number of seats: 3 Electorate: 69,233 Total poll: 42,858 Spoiled votes: 338 Total valid poll: 42,520 Quota: 10,631
SIXTH COUNT Distribution of Killilea’s votes Sean Canney (Ind) +1,1119,896 Louis O’Hara (SF) +358 8,799 Anne Rabbitte (FF) +2,555 8,676 Ciaran Cannon (FG) +311 7,425 Pete Roche (FG) +581 6,973 Roche eliminated
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