The process of sorting and counting votes in two closely-watched by-elections has begun. Two new members of the Dail will be elected in the process after voters in parts of Galway and Dublin went to the polls on Friday. They chose from a range of candidates to fill the seats vacated by Catherine Connolly when she became President, and former minister Paschal Donohoe, who left political life to become the World Bank’s chief knowledge officer. Here’s everything you need to know as counting gets underway
at the RDS in Dublin and the Galway Lawn Tennis Club in Salthill. The respective by-elections are being held in Galway West and Dublin Central. The first boxes holding ballots were opened at 9am, as counts got under way at the RDS in Dublin and the Galway Lawn Tennis Club. A sense of the race quickly began to emerge as tally counters observed the sorting of the votes. Early tallies with around 34% of the boxes in Dublin Central open showed Daniel Ennis, the Social
Democrats candidate, on 19.9% of the first preferences – followed by Sinn Fein’s Janice Boyland on 17.2% and Gerard “The Monk” Hutch on 13.6%. Fianna Fail’s candidate John Stephens was on 1.6% of the vote. With around 22% of boxes tallied in Galway West, Fine Gael’s Sean Kyne was on 17.7% of first preferences, followed by Independent Ireland and former Fianna Fail member Noel Thomas on 15.4% and Labour’s Helen Ogbu on 14.5%. The votes must first be sorted before counting formally begins, in a
process which takes several hours because of Ireland’s complex system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV), where candidates are ranked by preference. It means the voting slips need to be counted several times, an undertaking which is expected to last until Sunday for Galway West. The other candidates in Dublin Central include Green Party’s Janet Horner; Dublin Lord Mayor and Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam; People Before Profit’s Eoghan O Ceannabhain; Aontu’s Ian Noel Smyth and Labour’s Ruth O’Dea. The campaign of Hutch,
who has been described in court by a judge as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation, has been closely watched in the constituency. Independents Tony Corrigan, Colm Joseph Flood, Mannix Flynn, Malachy Steenson, and John O’Leary are also running. The other TDs in the four-seater constituency are Labour’s Marie Sherlock and Social Democrat Garry Gannon. Others in contention for Galway West are Social Democrats’ Mide Nic Fhionnlaoich, Sinn Fein’s Mark Lohan, Green Party candidate Niall Murphy, Fianna Fail’s Cillian Keane, People Before Profit’s
Denman Rooke, and Aontu’s Orla Nugent. Galway City mayor Mike Cubbard is among independents Neill Bairead, Patrick Feeney, Sheila Garrity, John OLeary, Michael Ryan and Thomas Welby – with AJ Cahill running for The Irish People. The current TDs for Galway West are Fianna Fail’s John Connolly, Sinn Fein’s Mairead Farrell, Minister of State and independent TD Noel Grealish, and Fine Gael Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up
here .
Dublin Central by-election, Galway West by-election, PR-STV, single transferable vote, Daniel Ennis, Janice Boyland, Gerard Hutch, Sean Kyne, Noel Thomas, Helen Ogbu