Local Elections 2024 – County Cork: Fine Gael’s John Paul O’Shea re-elected to Kanturk

Fine Gael’s John Paul O’Shea has been re-elected after he received 171 surplus votes in the second count. These votes gave him a total of 2,336 votes.

His election comes shortly after it was announced his brother Tony topped the polls in the Mallow LEA.

In the second count of Kanturk LEA, Trish Murphy (FG) received 195 votes to give her a total of 2,037, while Ian Doyle (FF) collected an additional 196 to give him a total of 1,396 votes. They are the candidates now most likely to fill the remaining two seats in the constituency, which has a quota of 2,284.

10.35pm – Two Fine Gael representatives and a Labour Party candidate have been re-elected to Mallow LEA.

Tony O’Shea (FG) topped the polls with 2,615 votes and his party colleague Liam Madden received 2,571 first-preferences.

Labour’s first-time candidate Eoghan Kenny, who was co-opted on to the local council earlier this year, collected 2,239 votes.

Each candidate’s surplus will be divided amongst the remaining seven candidates in the race for the final two seats in the constituency.

Fianna Fáil candidates Gearóid Murphy (1,329 votes) and Pat Hayes (1,076 votes) are the candidates with the next most first-preference votes.

10.30pm – Bantry-West Cork LEA, Bandon-Kinsale LEA and Skibbereen-West Cork first count results are expected to be announced around midnight.

We are still waiting for the results from the first count to be announced at the election centre in Clonakilty in County Cork.

There is growing speculation that the results from the first count in the three local electoral areas will be announced in the Bantry-West Cork, Bandon-Kinsale and Skibbereen-West Cork around midnight.

According to the early tallies Cllr Danny Collins (Independent Ireland) and younger brother of Independent Ireland party leader Michael Collins will top the poll in Bantry-West Cork.

The tallies also indicate that sitting Independent councillor Alan Coleman will top the poll in Bandon-Kinsale and Noel O’Donovan (Fine Gael) will top the poll in Skibbereen-West Cork.

9.49pm – Mallow LEA first count results are expected to be announced within the next 10 minutes.

9.20pm – Fianna Fáil’s Bernard Moynihan has been elected to Kanturk LEA on the first count.

The Duhallow representative received 3,030 votes and his surplus of 746 will be distributed amongst the remaining nine candidates in the second count.

Other high pollers were Fine Gael’s John Paul O’Shea, with 2,185 votes, and his party colleague Trish Murphy, who collected 2,037 votes.

7.40pm – Independent Ireland party leader hopeful his party will win a number of seats

Independent Ireland party leader Michael Collins TD is hopeful his party can win a number of seats on Cork County Council.

Speaking to The Corkman as he arrived at the count centre in Clonakilty on Saturday evening, Mr Collins declared himself very ‘happy’. “It is early stages yet. We are happy at the moment. Obviously, there is a lot to be played out yet. Tomorrow is a big day. For now, I am extremely happy. Four candidates are going to get elected tonight, two are from Independent Ireland. That is a great start. In Europe it also looks very good for us, but it is very early stages,” he said.

Two brothers of the Independent Ireland party leader appear poised to top the polls in the Bantry-West Cork (Danny) and Bandon-Kinsale (John) local electoral areas respectively. Independent Ireland candidate Daniel Sexton is also in with a good chance of winning a seat in the Skibbereen-West Cork LEA after polling well.

Deputy Collins is hopeful his party can win three seats. “It looks very good for Danny in the Bantry electoral area and John in the Bandon electoral area. They both have exceeded a quota as it looks from the early tallies.

“I was hearing this on the doors. I was getting a very positive response. We are in a very serious chance of taking a third seat in the Clonakilty area. We will know more tomorrow,” he added.

6.23pm – Final tallies in Midleton and Cobh local electoral areas

The final tallies have been completed in both Midleton and Cobh local electoral areas.

Sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Sheila O’Callaghan recorded the highest vote in Cobh as she secured 17% of the vote.

Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry seems certain to retain his seat after he secured 15% of the vote.

Sitting councillors Cathal Rasmussen (Labour Party) and Sinead Sheppard (Fine Gael) look well poised to retain their seats after they secured 12% of the vote respectively.

Independent Ireland candidate Ger Curley has polled very well. Mr Curley secured 10% of the vote.

Fianna Fáil candidate Dominic Finn has polled well as he garnered 7% of the vote, while Green Party candidate Cliona O’Halloran is on 6%.

Sinn Féin candidate Medhi Ozcinar and Fine Gael candidate Keith Kelly are both locked on 5% of the vote.

Rola Abu Zeid O’Neill the People Before Profit candidate and Glór Voice of the People candidate Diarmaid Ó Cadhla are both on 4%, while Independent candidate Peter Kidney is on 3%.

Overall there are 12 candidates competing for six seats in the Cobh LEA.

In the Midleton LEA sitting Independent candidate Mary Lenihan Foley secured the most votes after she garnered 2663 first preference votes.

Sitting Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty polled an impressive 1852 votes, while Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Mulcahy who is contesting his first elected secured 1503 votes.

Sitting Social Democrats councillor Liam Quaide appears well poised to retain his seat after he secured 1338 first preference votes.

Fine Gael candidate Rory Cocking is well poised to win a seat for his party after he received 1121 votes. Sitting councillor Ann Marie Ahern will be hopeful of retaining her seat after she secured 840 votes.

Fine Gael candidate Alision Curtin secured 683 first preference votes, while Independent candidate John Buckley and Sinn Féin candidate Edith Adams garnered 663 and 610 votes respectively.

Independent candidate Mona Stromose got 582 votes, while Eileen Kelly McCarthy (Independent Ireland) got 556 votes.

Independent candidate Sean Buckley garnered 499 votes, Green Party candidate Clodagh Harrington got 329 votes, Independent candidate James

Peter O’Sullivan received 182 votes and Independent candidate Michelle Neville got 125 votes.

There are 16 candidates competing for seven seats in the Midleton LEA.

6.12pm – Fianna Fáil’s Bernard Moynihan was greeted with applause as he arrived into Mallow Youth Centre.

The Duhallow representative is expected to be re-elected as a Kanturk councillor when the first count takes place soon.

Tallies showed that Moynihan received 2,999 votes, which is 26pc of the vote in the four-seat constituency.

Moynihan said that he was “delighted” and “surprised” with how many votes he received.

5.37pm – The count is well underway in Mallow Youth Centre, with the results of the first count expected in an hour.

5.25pm – Social Democrats party leader Holly Cairns has just arrived at the count centre in Clonakilty.

The Social Democrats are running three candidates in the three local electoral areas in Bantry-West Cork, Bandon-Kinsale and Skibbereen-West Cork. The party are in contention to win seats in all the municipal districts going by the early tallies.

Ann Bambury who is running in the Bandon LEA has polled very well and will be hopeful of winning a seat.

Sitting councillor Chris Heinhold is running in the Bantry LEA and will be competing hard to retain his seat.

There are only four seats up for grabs in this MD and Independent candidates are also polling well. Transfers ultimately will prove crucial in determining who will win the seats.

Isobel Towse who is running in the Skibbereen-West Cork LEA has also polled well according to the early tallies and she will be competing hard for the final seat in this MD. There are 15 candidates competing for five seats in Skibbereen-West Cork.

Voting for the three local electoral areas has yet to commence at the count centre in Clonakilty.

4.05pm – Counting has begun in Mallow Youth Centre

3:58pm – Macroom and Carrigaline Tallies

Macroom LEA

Tallies show that all six outgoing councillors in the area could be re-elected.

Gobnait Moynihan (FF) hold 16pc of the vote in the LEA while her party colleague Michael Looney has 14pc.

Michael Creed sits on 15pc and his Fine Gael colleague Eileen Lynch has 13pc. Ted Lucey, also Fine Gael, holds 12pc of the vote.

Martin Coughlan (Ind) has 8pc of the vote.

Of the four candidates hoping to challenge the status quo, Dermot Kelleher (Independent Ireland) looks to hold the most votes at 7pc.

Carrigaline LEA

Fianna Fáil’s Seamus McGrath looks to be running away with the electoral area, with tallies showing that he holds 36pc of the vote.

Ben Dalton-O’Sullivan holds 20pc of the vote while Fine Gael’s Jack White has 12pc.

3.46pm – Count at Mallow Youth Centre is still awaiting boxes to arrive from the local GAA club.

3.40pm – Mallow, Kanturk, Fermoy

Mallow LEA

Fine Gael’s two outgoing councillors are looking likely to be re-elected in Mallow

Fine Gael’s Tony O’Shea and Liam Madden each hold 22pc of the vote in the LEA, according to tallies.

The Labour Party’s Eoghan Kenny sits on 19pc and Gearóid Murphy of Fianna Fáil has 11pc.

Pat Hayes (FF) could secure the fifth seat in the constituency with the 9pc he currently holds.

Kanturk LEA

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are looking set to retain their grip on Kanturk.

Tallies show that Duhallow stalwart Bernard Moynihan (FF) currently holds 26pc of the vote in the four-seat constituency.

John Paul O’Shea (FG) has 19pc and Trish Murphy (FG) sits on 18pc.

Charleville’s Ian Doyle (FF) holds 10pc.

The count at Mallow Youth Centre is due to begin around 4pm.

Fermoy LEA

Outgoing independent William O’Leary leads in Fermoy.

The former Fianna Fáil councillor holds 18pc of the vote in the LEA according to tallies.

Noel McCarthy (FG) has 16pc of the vote while Frank O’Flynn (FF) is sitting on 13pc.

Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre O’Brien has accumulated 11pc of the vote and her party colleague Nelius Cotter has 7pc.

With five candidates sitting on between 5pc and 6pc, there could be a battle for this area’s sixth seat.

3.23pm – Bantry-West Cork, Bandon-Kinsale, Skibbereen-West Cork

Bantry-West Cork LEA

Early tallies are showing Cllr Danny Collins is well poised to retain his seat.

Cllr Collins who is a member of Independent Ireland topped the poll in the 2019 local elections and early tallies are indicating that Cllr Collins has attracted a very strong vote once again.

Sitting Fine Gael councillor Caroline Cronin is also doing well according to the early tallies. She is expected to retain her seat.

Sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy is also doing well in the early stages and is expected to retain his seat.

His running mate Danny Crowley will be in a battle to secure a second seat for the party.

Two Independent candidates Finbarr Harrington and Helen O’Sullivan have performed well according to the early tallies and will be in contention for a seat.

Mr Harrington was very unlucky in the last election as he narrowly lost out to the current leader of the Social Democrats Holly Cairns for the last seat in the MD. Overall there are 11 candidates battling for four seats in this municipal district.

Skibbereen-West Cork LEA The early tallies are showing sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll has performed very well. Cllr Carroll has received a very strong vote and seems well poised to retain his seat.

Fine Gael councillors Noel O’Donovan and Brendan McCarthy are both nicely poised to secure seats for the party. Mr O’Donovan and Mr McCarthy have polled very strongly across the MD.

Sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre Kelly has also performed well and will be hopeful of retaining her seat. Independent Ireland candidate Daniel Sexton has also performed well and will be hoping transfers will propel him to County Hall. Sitting councillor Declan Hurley (Independent) will also be in contention for a seat. Again these are very early tallies and come with the health warning that there are a lot of boxes throughout the MD to be opened. There are 15 candidates competing for five seats.

Bandon-Kinsale LEA In this municipal district John Collins a brother of Michael and Danny is polling very well according to the early tallies.

They indicate the Independent Ireland candidate is well placed to win a seat.

Long serving Independent candidate Alan Coleman is also polling strongly and is tipped to retain his seat.

Fine Gael candidate John Michael Foley is also polling well and he will be hopeful of securing a seat on Cork County Council.

There are a lot of Bandon candidates in this election and transfers as always will be key in deciding the ultimate shape of the LEA. There are 12 candidates vying for six seats in this LEA.

2:15 p.m. – Kanturk LEA

Tallies show that three of the four outgoing councillors in Kanturk could be re-elected.

Local stalwart Bernard Moynihan (FF) holds 26% of the vote and looks more than likely to be the first elected to the four-seat constituency.

John Paul O’Shea (FG) sits on 19% of the vote and Fianna Fáil’s Ian Doyle holds 10% of the vote.

Trish Murphy (FG), who is vying for the council seat left vacant by the death of her father Gerard Murphy, has 18%.