Intriguing battle in Cahir electoral area for seats on Tipperary County Council

There was a dramatic twist to the beginning of the Local Elections story in the Cahir Local Electoral Area that may yet have an impact on the outcome of the contest.

Tipperary County Council member, Cllr Michéal Anglim, who had successfully contested two Local Elections since he was co-opted in 2013 to fill the seat of his late father, surprisingly announced his decision not to stand in the June Local Elections.

Within a week he had changed his mind and announced that he would be standing in the June 7 contest and as a result, he now has a running partner rather than a free run on the Fianna Fáil ticket in the bid to hold on to his seat.

In the period between the two announcements Fianna Fáil selected PJ English to run instead of Cllr Anglim and PJ English has stayed in the race despite the Cllr Anglim about turn.

As a result Fianna Fáil now has two candidates in the race and how that split of the party vote plays out is one of the many subplots now built into the race for seats in the Cahir Electoral Area.

Despite the bizarre beginning to the Cahir battle for seats, the LEA is probably one of the most predictable in the county.

Sitting councillors Andy Moloney, Independent; Marie Murphy, Fine Gael; Cllr Máirín McGrath, Independent and Cllr Anglim are favourites to be re-elected but the confusion surrounding Cllr Anglim early on in the campaign may still have a bearing on the final result and the performance of five candidates putting themselves forward for election for the first time will make it a very interesting contest.

In 2017 there was a significant gap between the four councillors elected and the other four candidates in the race.

Of the four defeated candidates that went in 2017 only one, PJ English is going again.

Martin Lonergan has passed away and Anita Lonergan (FF) and Danny Carroll (Sinn Féin) are not going this time around.

How close one of PJ English, Tom Hennessy (Independent) Cathal Ó hÉanna (Sinn Féin), Alan Moynihan (Social Democrats), Shane Smith (non-party) and Bill Fitzgerald (non-party) can come to unseating one of the incumbent councillors will determine who the Cahir LEA will return on June 7.

PJ English, who is contesting Local Elections for the third time, was some distance off Cllr Anglim in 2017 with Anglim receiving 1,056 first preference votes compared to 533 for PJ English.

“This is my third time going. The late Fianna Fáil TD Sean Byrne went twice in Local Elections before he was elected the third time, I am hoping third time is lucky for me,” said PJ English.

It is a huge gap to make up and if there is to be a surprise and one of the four sitting councillors are to lose out on June 7 the main threat is likely to come from PJ English.

Tom Hennessy, a first-time Local Election candidate is putting in a huge campaign and Sinn Féin’s Cathal Ó hÉanna will hope to sweep up some of the party vote that came out in such numbers to back Martin Browne on his election to the Dáil in the Cahir area.

Sinn Féin’s Cathal Ó hÉanna, Social Democrat candidate Alan Moynihan, Shane Smith and Bill Fitzgerald first timers to Local Elections and may suffer as a result of their low profile but the performance of the Sinn Féin candidate may well be boosted given the standing of Sinn Féin in the national polls and he could turn out to be the surprise ticket among the chasing pack. Deputy Browne received almost 1,000 votes in the Cahir area in the General Election, and ÓhÉanna, a former youth member of Fine Gael and a local rep for Sinn Féin for some years, will be hoping to pick up some of that support.

If ÓhÉanna manages to attract a good portion of that vote he will have a major say and two experienced councillors Cllr Marie Murphy and Cllr Michael Anglim will be hoping their track record of getting work done on the ground will be enough to keep them ahead of PJ English and the five newcomers.

All eyes will be on table topper in 2017, Cllr Andy Moloney.

He received an impressive 27.65% of the first preference votes in Cahir in 2017, a total of 1,885, well clear of second-placed

Cllr Marie Murphy who received 1,226 first preference votes.

Cllr Moloney, a hands-on leader in the Cahir Tidy Towns initiative, is favourite to top the poll again.

He will be out to match or increase his first preference vote in the expectation that the other three sitting councillors will be out to close the gap on him.

A former member of the Deputy Mattie McGrath team, Cllr Moloney has performed remarkably well in the polls since he parted ways with the McGrath camp.

If he does put in another towering performance,and sweeps up anything over 2,000 votes in the Local Elections, the Poulmucka man may have a decision to make in terms of a possible run in the General Election whenever that happens.

As an Independent candidate, he is not open to the vagaries of how voters will react to his name on the ballot sheet compared to coalition Government parties like the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil candidates. Of the primary contenders both himself and Cllr Máirín McGrath will be standing in their own right, their fortunes not relying on how a party is seen nationally.

Cllr McGrath, who took the second seat last time around on her first time of asking and now has a full term behind her as a councillor, is expected to be the closest challenger to Cllr Moloney and all eyes will be watching just how close she can get with the General Election to come.

Cllr Moloney (Poulmucka), Cllr McGrath (Newcastle), Alan Moynihan (Ballypooreen), Bill Fitzgerald (Ballyporeen) and Cathal Ó’hÉanna who has Cahir all to himself, are all in a good position geography wise as the other five candidates are battling it out for votes in a crowded Clogheen area which should make for an almighty battle.