Local Elections 2024: Who's been elected so far in Clare and what at to expect from Day Two
The first day of counting saw 16 of 28 Clare county councillors elected
The count went long into the night but by the end of day one, more than half of Clare County Councils members had been deemed elected.
All councillors for Ennis and Killaloe Municipal Districts, along with the four councillors elected to the Ennistymon Local Electoral Area for the West Clare Municipal District, were elected on Saturday night/early Sunday morning, following the local election on Friday, June 7.
All together 16 councillors were elected: four in Ennistymon, seven in Ennis and five in Killaloe.
All ballot boxes had been opened and votes tallied by late Saturday afternoon, with the chief returning officer (and chief executive of Clare County Council) Pat Dowling declaring the count formally underway at around 5.30pm.
We had our first councillors declared elected just after 8pm, with Bill Slattery topping the polls for Ennistymon LEA in West Clare and also winning the honour of Clare's first new councillor of 2024.
Counts one and two progressed rapidly enough with winning candidates across all areas, before the eliminations started in the third and fourth and fifth counts.
All seats in Ennistymon were filled on the sixth count just before 1am, with the last two seats on Killaloe filled shortly after, also on the sixth count.
Following the eighth and final count of the night, all remaining seats in Ennis were filled.
Today's count will see the five remaining seats for West Clare MD in Kilrush, and the seven seats in Shannon MD filled.
ELECTED:
Ennis:
Antoinette Bake Bashua (FF), Clare Coleman Molloy (FF), Pat Daly (FF), Tommy Guilfoyle (SF), Mary Howard (FG), Paul Murphy (FG), Tom O’Callaghan (FF)
Ennistymon:
Joe Garrihy (FF), Joe Killeen (FF), Bill Slattery (FG), Shane Tallty (FF)
Killaloe:
Pat Burke (FG), Joe Cooney (FG), Pat Hayes (FF), Tony O’Brien (FF), Alan O’Callaghan (FF).
There could also be 15 more winners in Clare this Sunday as the senior hurling team is set to face Limerick in the Munster Senior Hurling Final in Thurles at 4pm, the reason no doubt for the late push in counting last night.
While many are hoping to have the count completed by throw in, senior figures in Clare County Council have indicated that the count will be paused for the match.
We will continue to bring you rolling coverage from the Clare count (with a few match updates) on our Local Elections Live Blog and on our social media channels.