SLIGO-DRUMCLIFFE
2019 was a year of change on the Local Electoral Areas front as the SligoDrumcliffe constituency was created, taking five seats from the Sligo constituency previously represented at County Council level.
A total of 11 candidates ran in this area. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail had the greatest level of representation with three candidates each along with two Independents, one Sinn Fein, one People Before Profit and one Independents 4 Change candidate.
The candidates were Thomas Walsh, Tom Fox, Ciara McLoughlin (Fine Gael), Donal Gilroy, Seamus Kilgannon, Colm McGurran (Fianna Fail), Thomas Healy (Sinn Fein), Marie Casserly, Amanda Gallagher (Independent), Nigel Gallagher (People Before Profit) and Corey Whyte (Independents 4 Change).
9,192 voters registered in this area turned out to vote, representing 56.9% of the population in the constituency who had an eligible vote.
First time candidate Corey Whyte was the first to be eliminated, going out in the first count with 202 votes.
Amanda Gallagher was eliminated in the second count with 267 votes, followed by Colm McGurran and Nigel Gallagher who both bowed out in the third count with 348 and 491 votes respectively.
Count four returned its first elected councillor, Sinn Fein's Thomas Healy with 1,610 votes.
Count five saw Fine Gael lose their first candidate, Ciara McLoughlin, who was eliminiated with 934 votes.
There was better news on the next count for Fine Gael as Thomas Walsh elected to the council for the first time with 1,688 votes. He was joined in being elected on count six by Donal Gilroy and Marie Casserly on 1,534 and 1,688 votes respectively.
The final seat was a close-fought battle between Seamus Kilgannon and Tom Fox. Fine Gael's Tom Fox ultimately won out with 1,375 votes to Seamus Kilgannon's 1,217 votes.
For the 2024 election, at least three outgoing councillors will be on the ballot as Thomas Walsh, Donal Gilroy and Tom Fox have all been confirmed as candidates again. The other outgoing councillors, Thomas Healy and Marie Casserly had not yet officially declared at the time of going to press.
Amanda Gallagher is running again, this time as a candidate with the Irish Freedom Party while first-time candidate Edel McSharry will be a Fianna Fail candidate.