Independents day and more
JIM HAYES LOOKS BACK ON THE 2014 LOCAL ELECTIONS IN WEXFORD WHICH SERVED AS A SPRINGBOARD TO JAMES BROWNE’S ELEVATION TO THE DÁIL TWO YEARS LATER AND SAW INDEPENDENTS, FIANNA FÁIL AND SINN FÉIN ALL MAKE SOME SIGNIFICANT GAINS
SINN Féin and Fianna Fáil gains, Labour losses, the rise of the Independents, and a couple of very familiar political family names at the top of the polls – there was much to discuss in the wake of the 2014 local elections in Wexford.
A total of 66 candidates threw their hats in the ring, all hoping a take one of the 34 seats on offer: ten in the Wexford district and eight in each of the Enniscorthy, Gorey and New Ross districts.
The landmark local elections were the first since the abolition of borough and town councils in favour of new municipal districts. In Wexford, that reform resulted in an increase in county council seats, from 21 in the 2009 elections to 34 five years on, but a reduction in local authority seats overall, down five from the 39 previously available across Wexford’s borough council and Enniscorthy, Gorey and New Ross town councils.
After the dust had settled and votes were counted in the May 23 election of 2014, Fianna Fáil had claimed the most seats nationally, followed by Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Labour in that order.
County Wexford mirrored that national trend, with 11 Fianna Fáil candidates elected, nine for Fine Gael, five Sinn Féin and two Labour. A single People Before Profit candidate and six Independents completed the Wexford line-up of 34 newly-elected councillors.
Sinn Féin, who had not managed to win any Wexford Co Council seats in 2009, losing their three gains from 2004, were big winners in the 2014 revamp, bagging five seats with over 12 per cent of the vote.
Fianna Fáil also had cause for celebration in Wexford as they nabbed six of the extra seats, with more than a quarter of the vote, increasing their number of county councillors to eleven, six more than they had after the 2009 election.
Labour, on the other hand, saw their County Council representation halved in Wexford, their four seats won in 2009 reduced to just two in 2014 as they claimed just an 8.4 per cent share of the vote.
The swing to Independents was a noticeable feature of this election as non-party candidates hoovered up over a fifth of Wexford’s first preference votes in landing their six seats.
Of the noteworthy gains, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil each took three of the eight seats on offer in the Enniscorthy electoral area, while in Wexford Sinn Féin secured two of the ten seats.
The 2014 local election in Wexford was particularly notable for the return of two Wexford political family dynasties to the top of the poll: the Brownes and the Carthys.
Barrister James Browne (FF), who had been an Enniscorthy councillor since 2009, topped the poll in the new Enniscorthy electoral area, securing just shy of 2,000 first preferences with almost 15 per cent of the vote. His father John, then in his final term as a TD, was among the supporters cheering for James, the youngest candidate in the Enniscorthy district, as the result was announced in the Wexford count centre at St. Joseph’s Centre.
Ahead of the 2016 general election, Browne Snr announced his retirement from politics and the son took up the mantle as FF’s flagbearer in the Wexford constituency. When James was elected a TD in 2016, Willie Kavanagh was co-opted to fill the seat he left behind on the county council.
Our Lady’s Island Independent Ger Carthy swept to victory at his first attempt in 2014, topping the poll in the Wexford electoral area. With more than 12 per cent of the vote, the paramedic and GAA stalwart won 1,932 first preferences, beating Sinn Féin’s Anthony Kelly to pole position by around 100 votes.
Carty was following in the footsteps of his late father, Leo, who passed away in 2010 after almost 50 years serving Wexford as an Independent councillor.
The New Ross area delivered another Independent poll-topper as the popular Martin Murphy claimed over ten per cent of votes to finish on top ahead of the Fianna Fáil pair of Sheehan and Whelan. Early last month, Murphy annnounced he was standing down from politics, so he won’t be in the frame on May 25.
Malcolm Byrne, who had been first elected a councillor in 2009, secured more than 13 per cent of the Gorey vote to top the poll in that area, ahead of Sinn Féin’s Fionntán O Súilleabháin who himself attracted an impressive 10.2 per cent of first preferences.
Byrne has a hectic campaign schedule this time out as he’s challenging in both the local and European elections, the latter after a surprising defeat of TD Billy Kelleher at the recent Fianna Fáil selection convention to choose a candidate for the EU election in the Ireland South constituency.
For every winner there is a loser and the 2014 local election in Wexford had its share of hard luck stories.
Keith Doyle was second from bottom in Enniscorthy after the first preference votes were counted, but the Fianna Fáil man leapfrogged two sitting councillors (Labour’s Martin Storey and Independent Jackser Owens) and FF colleague Willie Kavanagh to take the final seat there.
Hurling hero Storey had been co-opted to the council after the untimely death of Pat Cody the previous year.
Independent Anthony Connick had a battle royal in New Ross to take a seat ahead of Brian Wallace (FF) and John Dwyer, the former Sinn Féin councillor who had lost his seat in 2009 and was contesting the 2014 election as an Éirígí candidate.
Of the 34 councillors elected to Wexford County Council in 2014, just four were women: Barbara-Ann Murphy (FF) and Kathleen Codd-Nolan (FG) in the Enniscorthy area, Mary Farrell (Ind) in Gorey, and People Before Profit’s Deirdre Wadding in Wexford. Wadding polled 100 more first preference votes than Leonard Kelly (Ind) and held that lead to take the final and tenth Wexford seat on the 16th count.
While Kelly is contesting the 2019 election, Wadding will not be there as she resigned her seat for health reasons in October, 2017, to be replaced by PBP colleague Tony Walsh.
Despite Wadding’s departure, the number of women on Wexford County Council has increased to five since 2014. Following the sad passing of Wexford Fianna Fáil councillor Fergie Kehoe in April, 2016, former county councillor and Senator, Lisa McDonald was co-opted to fill the vacancy. After New Ross Sinn Féin councillor Oisin O’Connell resigned his seat in December, 2017, Marie Doyle was co-opted.
Sinn Féin has had one other personnel change since 2014. Wexford councillor Anthony Kelly, who had come close to topping the poll, gave up his seat because of ill-health in December 2017, with young activist Tom Forde filling the vacancy.
Of the four Wexford electoral areas in 2014, Enniscorthy was statistically the best place to run for election as just 12 candidates contested the race for the eight seats. The fields were far more crowded in other parts of the county. In Wexford, 22 candidates battled for 10 seats; and in both Gorey and New Ross, 18 candidates challenged for eight.
Three candidates achieved less than one per cent of the total vote in their electoral areas: Ivan Kelly in Gorey, and David Lloyd and Paul O’Hanlon in Wexford.