How the Kildare election count turned into the longest running saga

This was, to borrow the title of O’Neill’s play, a long day’s journey night, though there were more than four acts in this production.

In scenes that threatened the boundary between what passes for common sense and farce, the seemingly straightforward task of electing six councillors to represent the greater Newbridge area on Kildare County Council turned into a bad, sludgy dream of tight results, the occasional stalemate and recounts.

The number of votes open to question in terms of the number cast was miniscule or fractions of a decimal point, as returning officer Eoghan Ryan said.

It all began as a model of practicality.

Tracey O’Dwyer and Peggy O'Dwyer, the unrelated Fine Gael representatives in the 14 strong field, were first elected.

They crossed the line with well  in excess of 2,000 votes each. This meant that both women exceeded the quota with the former faring slightly better.

If anybody was wondering where the votes won by independent councillor Fiona McLoughlin Healy would go this time around they had their answer.

In 2019 when 15 candidates  sought a seat in the Newbridge LEA (local electoral area), McLoughlin, a former Fine Gaeler, snaffled up 2,331 first preferences - which was more than a quota and a half.

Those votes returned from whence they came, like homing pigeons.

Peggy O’Dwyer and Tracey O’Dwyer were well in contention then with 1,061 and 98 first preference votes respectively. So too was Rob Power with 1,024 but they had to wait longer to reach the finishing line.

Chris Pender (Social Democrats) was the third candidate elected and it was certain that he would be followed by Noel Heavey and the FF running mate Rob Power. In 2019, Power led the FF charge with more first preferences than Heavey but this time the positions were reversed.

The complications emerged when the contest reached count ten.

By that stage Sinn Fein’s James Stokes, an eighteen year old who has campaigned on issues affecting the mental health of travellers  was neck and neck with Aontú runner Melissa Byrne (who celebrated her 25th birthday last week as the count was in full swing).

Up to that point Sinn Féin, in a disappointing election had just one candidate home - Shóna Ní Raghallaigh in the Kildare LEA. Aontú had none, after Una O’Connor was eliminated in the Clane LEA. Sinn Féin threw in 14 candidates while Aontu had two.

Count ten ended with 1110 votes and Byrne had one more (1101).

This precipitated the first recount and given the margins this was entirely understandable but as a vote or two ebbed and flowed between them the counts and the long nights began to rack up.

A handful of votes were found to have gone astray. At least one wasn’t stamped at the polling booth. Another generated confusion because it was unclear whether a figure for a candidate was intended as 7 or 1 because the top part of the 7 numeral formed part of box on the voting paper - and could reasonably be interpreted as 1.

The initial recount saw slight adjustments to a couple of candidates and the number of spoiled ballot papers. The quota was changed marginally from 1664 to 1663 and Sinn Féin sought a recount on this basis.

When the pair finished tied at the end of a count on 1098 votes the returning officer eliminated Stokes in line with the regulations governing elections.

Section 84(3) of the Local Elections Regulations states that when this happens whoever gets the most first preference stays in the race.

This was Byrne because she got 691 votes in the opening count to Stokes’ 643.

Another recount followed and this ended at about 1am on Tuesday last with Stokes on 1099 and Byrne on 1098 and guess what ? Another recount.

By this stage legal representatives were getting involved. Kildare County Council also sought legal advice.

The ice was broken shortly before 6.30pm on Wednesday when the fourth recount (10th count) results were announced by Mr Ryan, who said it had thrown up no significant errors.

It left Byrne on 1098 votes, two behind Stokes’ 1100 and she was eliminated with a party representative saying that this was unlikely to be challenged in court.

There were now four runners for three seats.

At around 7.30pm Mr Ryan took to the podium for what would be the last time. 

The three final seats winners were announced and the first two in in terms of votes were Noel Heavey and Rob Power. 

The last person elected was Newbridge independent Tom McDonnell. The difference in the end - and what turned the tide in favour of McDonnell - was that he collected 260 transfers from Melissa Byrne’s vote.

This was significantly more than the 156 which went to Stokes. He also got more Aontú candidate transfers than Heavey (180) or Power (113). At the end of it all both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were the dominant parties with 11 and 12 seats respectively. 

The Social Democrats have seven seats - three more than in 2019  and this meant that the  SDs were the most successful party; while Labour took five - as they did last time. 

There  are three independent councillors,  one representing Independent Ireland and one Sinn Féin member.