‘LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE’ - MUNSTER
‘IT’S a wonderful endorsement, I’m so proud of every man and woman who walked into a polling booth, took ten minutes out of their day and cast their vote for me and Sinn Fein,’ said a jubilant Imelda Munster as she topped the poll in Louth on Sunday evening.
‘It’s wonderful to get such backing from the people. I’ve been an elected rep since 2004, and I’ve always had the support of the people, and probably because I’ve never left anybody behind, and was always a voice for people, I’m just eternally grateful to them.’
She said it was the very issues that she heard ‘day in and day out’ on the election canvass which had motivated people to ‘ vote for change’ in Louth.
‘I think housing has been a massive issue in this election, public housing and the lack of affordable housing.’
With Ruairi O Murchu, it was a profitable 1-2 for Sinn Fein, leaving the rest of the candidates to battle it out for the remaining three seats in what turned out to be a titanic battle.
SF secured 42% of the vote. SEE SPECIAL INSIDE
SF could just as easily stand for Storm Force as Sinn Féin following a seismic shift in Louth politics which resulted in the party accounting for 42% of first preferences, or nearly 30,000 votes.
Nationwide SF had 24.5% making it the biggest party on first preference votes.
It was an outcome of Storm Ciara proportions. No, wait, this was a hurricane!
Imelda Munster topped the poll with 17,203 votes (24.3%), more than the 15,072 accumulated by Gerry Adams when he stood alone for Sinn Féin in 2011.
To put this performance into further perspective, Adams and Munster combined for 19,490 first preferences in 2016 or a 28.86% share.
Ruairí Ó Murchú retained the seat vacated by Adams with 12,491 (17.7%) as both he and Munster passed the 11,778 quota on the first count.
It was a huge first effort by the Dundalk man who will be swapping his seat on Louth county council for one in Leinster House as a member of the 33rd Dáil.
It was no surprise to see the Fine Gael share drop by 4.3%. However, it was not expected that Fianna Fáíl would slump by an even bigger amount, 4.8%.
Outgoing FF TD Declan Breathnach got 5,781 votes in the first count compared to 9,099 last time.
His running mate James Byrne (3,911) did better than Emma Coffey who got 3,422 in 2016.
Fine Gael first-timer John McGahon declared himself out of the running by the time the tallies were completed. He garnered 4,442 votes in the finish.
Fergus O’Dowd (FG) lay third after the first count on 6,380, compared to 6,814 four years ago when he retained his seat.
On that occasion he was joined by running mate Peter Fitzpatrick who had 6,408 first preferences.
Now standing as an Independent, the chairman of Louth GAA county board put himself firmly in the mix on 6,085.
Out to regain the seat he lost in 2016, Labour’s Ged Nash saw his vote increase from 4,945 to 5,824.
Apart from Sinn Féin the only other party to increase its first preference percentage was the Green Party.
Publican and former Louth county councillor Mark Dearey put himself in the hunt on 5,418, compared to 3,187 in 2016. This represented a hike of almost 3%.
Audrey Fergus was unable to build on the good work of Gareth Weldon as Solidarity People Before Profit slumped from 5.13% to 1.6%.
Eamon Sweeney of Renua was best of the rest on 794, some way back of the 2,095 of party colleague Mícheál O’Dowd four years ago.
David Bradley’s (IND) vote dropped from 319 to 256, while Cathal Ó Murchú of IFP got 574 votes and Topanga Bird (IND) 243.
In 15th and last place after the first count was Albert D. Byrne, another Independent candidate, on 145.