Cheevers closes in on the quota in Galway City East

The count for Galway City East is slowly edging towards the election of its first candidate, with Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Alan Cheevers now just 18 votes shy of the quota.

The tenth count is now underway with Independent candidate Michael Tully eliminated. His 436 votes will now be distributed among the remaining nine candidates.

The first three seats will be filled by Cllr Cheevers and Independents, Cllr Declan McDonnell and Cllr Terry O’Flaherty, and after the last count, just 67 votes separating the two non-party candidates.

There is less certainty around the final three seats, with transfers from Social Democrats’ candidate Justine Delaney Heaslip and Independent Ireland’s Cllr Noel Larkin likely to determine the outcome.

Still in the mix are sitting Cllr Michael John Crowe (FF), Helen Ogbu (Labour), Shane Forde (FG) and Aisling Burke (SF).

Caption: Alan Cheevers...closing in on retaining his seat.

Tenth Count

Distribution of Keogh votes

*McDonnell, Declan (Ind) (+14) 1,087

*Cheevers, Alan (FF) (+56) 1,126

*O’Flaherty, Terry (Ind) (+39) 1,020

Ogbu, Helen (Lab) (+38) 815

Forde , Shane (FG) (+104) 788

*Crowe, Michael (FF) (+21) 782

Burke, Aisling (SF) (+11) 747

*Larkin, Noel (Ind Irl) (+22) 572