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08 Sept 2025
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08 Sept 2025
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Donal 'Mandy' Kelly reflected on his late brother, Manus Kelly, after he was confirmed as the first Letterkenny LEA candidate to be elected to Donegal County Council yesterday evening (Sunday June 9).
Manus Kelly tragically died during the Donegal International Rally in 2019 just weeks after being elected as a councillor.
The position was then co-opted by his father, Donal Snr, until his resignation in 2020, after which it was taken on by Donal 'Mandy' Kelly.
Councillor Kelly topped the polls at the Letterkenny count centre and surpassed the 1,629 quota with 1,841 votes.
Speaking to Donegal Live while surrounded by emotional supporters, the councillor said, "We all know what happened here in the last election five years ago when we lost Manus and I have no doubt in my mind he would have been an outstanding councilor had he got to prove that.
"I had some team around me, this team carried these emotions with them as well over the last number of weeks and number of years.
"I'm very proud of my team and I know they're very proud of me, I know that. It was a phenomenal result here today. I didn't see it coming, a lot of the team here would probably see it different, I thought I was going to have to fight for the last three seats and I'm delighted with the outcome."
A recount which was called late yesterday evening has now put all candidates back to square one, however Kelly is a shoo-in for re-election as he exceeded the quota with 1,841 votes.
Some discrepancies among candidates' votes have reportedly been found, and an announcement is expected shortly at time of writing.
This may result in possible changes to votes counted throughout yesterday.
However, no information on the size or number of discrepancies is currently available.
At the end of the 11th count yesterday evening, Mary T Sweeney and Kevin Bradley were within 5 points of eachother with 1,010 and 1,015 votes respectively, while Donal Coyle surged ahead with 1,116 votes.
Ciaran Brogan, Jimmy Kavanagh, and Michael McBride are all expected to be elected.
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