Galway West: Ó Cuiv, Farrell, and Grealish elected as three seats filled

0
1094
Galway Daily news Galway Traveller Movement holding Voting Call for upcoming referendums

The first three seats have been filled in Galway West as Eamon Ó Cuív and Noel Grealish were re-elected, and Mairéad Farrell took a seat for Sinn Féin.

Eamon Ó Cuív topped the polls for Fianna Fáil in Galway West, coming away with 14.1% of 1st preference votes and finishing with 11,910 votes.

He was followed in second place by Mairéad Farrell, who took a seat for Sinn Féin on her first run after losing her seat on the city council last year.

Farrell finished with 10,340 votes having taken 14% of 1st preferences.

Noel Grealish has also been returned as an Independent candidate with 10,393 votes after coming in third with 13.3% of 1st preferences.

These three made it over the quota after the redistribution of Ollie Crowe’s votes after the seventh count, ending Fianna Fáil ambitions of holding two seats in the constituency.

The race is now on for the final two seats, after the distribution of their surplus votes in the night count.

Independent Catherine Connolly looks likely to retain her seats, picking up 633 transfers from those three to put her at 8,772.

The real toss up is between which of the two outgoing Fine Gael candidates will retain their seats, Seán Kyne or Hildegarde Naughton.

Naughton currently holds a substantial lead with almost a thousand votes more than Kyne at 7,366.

But that could change as Niall Ó Tuathaill of the Social Democrats next up to be eliminated and his 6,000 plus votes redistributed.

Either way, the final look of Galway West is likely to look very similar to 2016, with the addition of Mairead Farrell the only change.