“Resumed Counting: Sinn Féin’s Disappointing Election”

Summary Details:

Local Election Results:
– The counting process for the 949 seats in the local election carries on today, with less than 200 seats decided as of yet.
– Throughout the night and into the morning, the counting of votes for the local elections persists in several regions.
– Candidates from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independents have garnered the majority of the confirmed seats thus far.
– Sinn Féin, represented by David Cullinane, admits that it’s time to ‘gather and consider the electorate’s verdict’.
– The Green Party may retain their six positions in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

Counting for the European Election:
– Counting begins today for the 14 European election seats, with the first result announcements are to come at 10pm (in Irish time).
– In Dublin, preliminary counting figures point at a powerful polling performance by Barry Andrews (FF) and Regina Doherty (FG).
– Luke Ming Flanagan (Independent) and Maria Walsh (FG) are currently the frontrunners as per counting data, in the Midlands-North-West constituency.
– In the Southern constituency, current holders Sean Kelly (FG) and Billy Kelleher (FF) appear to be in line to retain their roles.

Outcome of Limerick Mayoral Election:
– John Moran (Independent) is leading with 16,855 initial preference votes (24 per cent), according to the final count.

Updates to Read:
– Analysis: Uncovering 5 significant points from the election count results
– News Notification: Continuous counting fills dozens of seats overnight

Elections in 2024:
– European Elections
– Dublin
– Midlands North West
– South Ireland
– The EU and Irish Voter Application
– Limerick Mayoral Election
– Local Elections in areas like Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork City, Cork County, DLR, Donegal, Dublin City, Fingal, Galway City & County, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly.

Having witnessed an all-night voting process, the results have now been finalised in Castlebar, as relayed by reporter Paul O’Malley. It seems that the people of Mayo are indeed a robust group.

Fianna Fail’s party member, Blackie Gavin, emerged victoriously on the 11th count, accompanied later by colleague Al McDonnell on the 13th count. Similarly, both independent representative Michael Kilcoyne and Ger Deere of Fine Gael were named winners after the first count. Independents Harry Barrett, the Fine Gael pair of Donna Sheridan and Cyril Burke were all declared winners during the 14th and ultimate count. Consequently, no position was available for Stephen Kerr, who campaigned against immigration, nor for the longstanding Fianna Fail councillor, Martin McLoughlin, who was also overlooked.

Meanwhile, Independent and Sinn Féin representatives spent their day fruitfully in Leitrim. Sorcha Crowley explains that one additional Independent councillor has been awarded a position, taking the current tally from four to five members. Likewise, Sinn Féin enjoyed an increase from two to four representatives. Fianna Fáil managed to retain their six representatives; in contrast, Fine Gael saw their presence in the chamber fall drastically from six to a mere three individuals.

Enda McGloin, a serving representative of the Fine Gael party, described their performance in north Leitrim as “an utter disaster”. Successfully re-elected on the first voting round in Ballinamore LEA with 1,033 votes, he points out that it will be an unfamiliar situation for the Manorhamilton LEA not to have a Fine Gael councillor. However, the party salvaged two more seats thanks to newcomers Maeve Reynolds from Carrick-on-Shannon and Ita Reynolds-Flynn from Ballinamore, the sister of former TD Gerry Reynolds, who secured the final Fine Gael seat shortly before 5 o’clock Sunday morning.

Paddy O’Rourke, a seasoned member of Fianna Fáil, had a spectacular showing in Ballinamore, Leitrim, as he led the polls with 1,434 votes during the initial count. Another veteran councillor from Fianna Fáil, Mary Bohan, secured her re-election to the Manorhamilton Local Electoral Area (LEA) with 925 votes in the third count, while Justin Warnock was chosen for the same LEA in the sixth count. Additionally, Fianna Fáil secured two more seats in the Carrick-on-Shannon LEA with Sean McGowan (912 votes) and Paddy Farrell, who was selected despite falling short of the quota of 824. Gary Prior won the final Fianna Fáil seat in the Ballinamore LEA during the seventh count with 984 votes.

The second largest group on the Leitrim County Council turned out to be the Independents. James Gilmartin, an instructor of Maths and Agricultural Science, was the first of five independents appointed, earning his spot in the Manorhamilton LEA due to a whopping initial preference tally of 1,335.

Enda Stenson and Des Guckian obtained seats in the Carrick-on-Shannon LEA during the fourth count, and Felim Gurn also claimed a seat in Manorhamilton on the same count. Eddie Mitchell won the fifth independent jab on the seventh count in Manorhamilton LEA with 866 votes, even though he didn’t reach the quota.

Sinn Féin had to stay up until 3.07 am to witness their first candidate, Brendan Barry, achieve elected status in the county. He received 1,007 votes during the fifth count in the Ballinamore LEA. Shortly after, during the sixth and seventh counts in the Manorhamilton and Carrick-on-Shannon LEAs respectively, Padraig Fallon (1,145 votes) and Cormac Flynn (841 votes) were also elected for Sinn Féin. Finally, at 4.54 am on the eighth count, Roisín Kenny – sister of Sligo-Leitrim Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny – secured the final council spot in the Ballinamore LEA.

The Leitrim County Council currently maintains an even 50:50 split between the two governing parties, Fianna Fáil (holding 6 seats) and Fine Gael (possessing 3 seats), in contrast with 5 independent members and 4 councillors from Sinn Féin. The election witnessed the addition of one more female representative compared to 2019, taking the total tally of women to 4, with three making their debut. No notable success was achieved by the far right or left parties in this region.

Among all, only Leitrim Country Council has managed to elect the complete set of councillors, with the last spot being secured by Róisín Kenny of Sinn Féin in the Ballinamore electoral region around 5 am. Meanwhile, the vote count in the Local Electoral Areas of Meath and Donegal is still to commence.

Hello again. Almost a day past the initiation of vote counting, we still have less than a quarter of council seats filled. The counting for the European elections is yet to kick off and the Limerick Mayoral election votes are scheduled for counting after a full day.

The dedication and diligence of the counters working tirelessly at various centres across the country is testimony to the efficiency of the Irish electoral system. I, Conor Pope, will constantly update you on this Live News story throughout the day.

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