Moriarty saw off all challengers

Skellig Ring

A LOOK at how the southern end of the Iveragh peninsula voted highlights the uphill struggle faced by candidates based in more peripheral areas.

In and around Cahersiveen, Waterville and Valentia, Cllr Norma Moriarty secured a huge vote, easily overcoming her rivals, including the Healy-Rae clan.

Based on the cross-party election tally in Cahersiveen, Waterville, Valentia and Portmagee, Moriarty won a considerable 1,109 votes, putting her well ahead of most of the chasing pack.

Michael Healy-Rae was close but, on 920 votes, still lagging behind, while Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin and Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly were trailing in her wake with just 306 and 355 votes respectively.

In Cahersiveen town, Cllr Moriarty dominated the Healy-Rae machine, picking up 480 votes to Michael’s 286 and Danny’s 21.

Cleo Murphy of the Green Party picked up 196 votes in the area with the vast majority of those, 119, coming from Valentia Island. Indeed Murphy won the largest share of the vote on the island, where Cllr Moriarty and Michael Healy-Rae played out a draw.

While Waterville-based Cllr Moriarty romped home on her own patch, her vote ebbed away further north along the peninsula. By the time she reached Glenbeigh and Sneem, her votes, while still decent, were falling away, leaving her with an electoral mountain to climb to secure a seat.

Another interesting facet of the election in the area was Sinn Féin’s poor showing in the region. While Pa Daly secured a massive vote across most of the county, his first-preference share was far smaller in almost all boxes south of Kenmare and Killorglin.