DUNGARVAN
Vol. 107
OBSERVER Friday, 31st May, 2019 22
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FINE GAEL TOPS THE POLL IN THE WEST
Labour back from the brink while Green Party enters local politics in Waterford
By Paul Mooney THE 2019 Local Elections brought some unexpected changes in the political make-up of Waterford Council, with the Green Party making a surprise entry to local politics, while Labour came back from the brink by increasing their seats from one to four. The WIT Arena, Carriganore, served as the Count Centre for Waterford on Saturday, 25th and Sunday, 26th May, last. The two days were tensionfilled at times, with hand-wringing, joy, tears and plenty of heated moments.Turnout across Waterford was 52.3 percent. The ballots were sorted on the Saturday, and the counting began at 9.00 a.m. on the Sunday.The first count results to be announced was the Lismore area at 1.20 p.m. The counting continued right up until after midnight, when the final seats were filled in quick succession. FINE GAEL Fine Gael topped the poll in West Waterford, with Damien Geoghegan receiving 1,716 first preference votes in the Dungarvan area; while Seanie Power and Liam Brazil topped the poll in the PortlawKilmacthomas area, with 1,591 and 1,482 first preference votes respectively. Declan Doocey, the only Fine Gael member in the Lismore area, held onto his seat, sailing comfortably past the quota on
the second count, and Pat Nugent retained his seat in the Dungarvan area when he was re-elected on the seventh count. The party’s surprise loss in these elections was Sharon Carey, daughter of the late John Carey. She was co-opted onto her father’s seat last year after his untimely death. There is now no Fine Gael representation in the Waterford City East constituency. Fine Gael are down one seat in the Council, compared to the 2014 results when they had eight seats. LABOUR In 2014, the Labour Party were nearly wiped out when their representation on the Council was reduced to just one Councillor (John Pratt), after their disasterous coalition with Fine Gael in Government, which saw the introduction of a raft of new taxes on the people, including local property tax and anger over the handling of the medical cards at the time and broken promises. But, the electorate in Waterford seems to have forgiven Labour somewhat since then, as the party returned three more candidates this time around Ger Barron in Portlaw-Kilmacthomas; and Seamus Ryan in Waterford City South (who both lost their seats last time); and newcomer Thomas Phelan, who was elected in the Dungarvan area. c Continued on page 24
Waterford Local Election Count 2019: Damien Geoghegan pictured with his wife Natanya and children after he topped the poll and got elected on the first count in the Dungarvan Electoral area. [Dan McGrath]
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