Elections 2024: Sligo County Council round-up

Voters in Sligo have bucked the national trend by electing two fewer Fine Gael councillors than in 2019 and electing a Labour councillor for the first time in a decade. For its part, Fianna Fáil has landed an extra seat.

Sinn Féin saw its two sitting councillors – Thomas Healy and Arthur Gibbons – returned. However, not one of the four other candidates the party fielded was elected.

On her first outing, Edel McSharry of Fianna Fáil secured 1,327 first preferences in the five-seat Sligo/Drumcliffe area. She joins her cousin Tom MacSharry on the council.

Her election alongside running mate Donal Gilroy in the same Local Election Area (LEA) saw Fine Gael’s Tom Fox lose his seat. The battle for the last seat went to the wire, with the Fianna Fail man winning by just 22 votes when the result was finally declared in the early hours of Monday.

Fianna Fáil candidates Liam Brennan and Barry Gallagher also had to wait – until 3am – to be declared, and were elected on the 12th count in Ballymote – Tubbercurry, where Fine Gael’s Martin Connolly lost his seat.

See full Ballymote – Tubbercurry results here

Of the 18 seats across three electoral areas, six went to Fianna Fail (up one), four to Fine Gael (down two), four to independents (unchanged), two to Sinn Féin, one to People Before Profit (unchanged) while Nessa Cosgrove on her third attempt gained a seat for Labour.

Edel McSharry had previously served as director of elections for her cousin, Marc MacSharry TD. She is the Head of the School of Nursing, Health Sciences and Disability Studies at St Angela’s College, which is now part of the Atlantic Technological University. Both she and Tom MacSharry – who is also her cousin – are regarded as potential contenders for Fianna Fáil in a general election.

Another successful first-time candidate was Fergal Nealon (Fine Gael), a son of former Sligo-Leitrim TD and Minister of State Ted Nealon, and who was elected in the Sligo-Strandhill area.

See full Sligo-Drumcliff results here

Asked whether Sinn Féin had made a mistake by running so many candidates, including three in Ballymote-Tubbercurry, local party TD Martin Kenny said that, because of the geographical spread in the county, the party had made the right choice. “Votes don’t cross the Ox mountains,” he said. “They stay one side or the other.”

One of the country’s longest-serving councillors, independent Declan Bree, who was first elected in 1974, topped the poll as predicted in Sligo-Strandhill.

The other poll-toppers were former Sligo county footballer Paul Tayor in Ballymote-Tubbercurry, and sitting Fine Gael councillor Thomas Walsh in Sligo-Drumcliff.

As with the last council, only three of the 18 councillors are women, with Nessa Cosgrove and Edel McSharry joining independent Marie Casserly who was re-elected in Sligo-Drumcliff. Longtime-Fianna Fail councillor Rosaleen O’Grady, who had served for 25 years on the council, did not run this time, while Fine Gael’s Sinead Maguire also bowed out after a decade of service.

Cllr Cosgrove, a native of Bandon, Co Cork, said she was “over the moon” that voters had put their trust in her. Her family are celebrating on the double, as her brother Shane O’Callaghan topped the poll in the Cork south central ward, winning a seat for Fine Gael on the first count.

See full Sligo-Strandhill results here