LE19 – SDCC election round-up as 40 councillors prepare for new five-year term
By Maurice Garvey
UNEXPLAINED delays in moving ballot boxes from the RDS to Citywest Hotel on Saturday led to a late start for the count, but early tallies set the scene for what was to transpire.
Battles throughout the seven local electoral area constituencies in South Dublin County Council, ultimately saw 11 sitting councillors fail to get re-elected.
Count centre in Citywest Hotel
Four of the 11 were from Sinn Féin and three for Solidarity People Before Profit, in a harrowing weekend at the count centre for the respective parties.
First preference votes put candidates in seat positions across the seven SDCC constituencies, and these positions would be maintained throughout the count on Saturday and Sunday.
The closest we got to a late shock was the 44 votes separating first-time candidate Yvonne Collins (FF) and Cllr Paul Foley (FF), the latter officially losing his seat on Sunday night in the Rathfarnham-Templeogue ward.
This local election has resulted in some big changes in the chamber of SDCC – notably Sinn Féin losing ground and the Green Party improving their situation from one seat to four.
Of the 40 seats in the chamber, there will be 17 new faces when members reconvene on June 10 for a council meeting.
This is because six sitting councillors stepped down ahead of the local elections, including longtime members Breeda Bonner (Lab), William Lavelle (FG) and Dermot Looney (Soc Dems).
The Independents were another big winner over the weekend, improving their tally from seven seats to nine.
Fianna Fáil with 8 seats and Fine Gael (7 seats), are now ahead of Sinn Féin (6 seats), followed by the Green Party (4), SPBP (3), Labour (2) and Social Democrats (1).
Due to the delay in proceedings, only four seats were officially filled by Saturday midnight, with wily campaigner Charlie O’Connor (FF) first past the post, topping Tallaght Central.
Read the results from your local ward here:
Tallaght Central / Tallaght South
Clondalkin / Palmerstown – Fonthill / Lucan
