29 seats finally filled in Louth County Council after mammoth count

After a marathon count at County Hall in Dundalk, all 29 seats in Louth County Council were finally filled with the final result declared at 7.30 on Monday morning.

The first seat was declared in Drogheda Rural before midnight on Saturday night, with Labour's Michelle Hall declared, with the first Dundalk seats being declared just before 1 am.

Fianna Fáil's Seán Kelly and Sinn Féin's Antóin Watters were both declared elected after the first count in Dundalk-Carlingford.
Kelly topped the poll with 1,828 first preference votes, leaving him with a surplus of 369 votes and Watterstook the second seat, with 1,723 votes leaving him with a surplus of 264 votes.

It wasn't until Sunday afternoon when the next Dundalk councillor was elected - Independent candidate Maeve Yore, who topped the poll in Dundalk South for a second time running, with a whopping 2,150 first preference votes, leaving her with a surplus of 637 votes.

It wasn't until late on Sunday night when the first candidate was elected to the Ardee Local Electoral Area (LEA). While Fine Gael's Paula Butterley topped the poll in Ardee after the first count, with 1,162 votes, it wasn't until the ninth count that the quota of 1,390 votes was met by Independent candidate Jim Tenanty, who was then elected. It was well into the early hours of Monday morning before the remaining five candidates were elected to the Ardee LEA.

One of the big surprises of the 2024 local election in the northern half of the Wee County, was the election of Independent candiate Ciarán Fisher to Dundalk-Carlingford, at the ultimate expense of sitting councillor, Conor Keelan.

It wasn't until the elimination of Tracy O'Hanlon in Dundalk-Carlingford and the distriubtion of her second preference votes that it became clear that Ciarán Fisher was in with a real chance of taking a seat. This was a remarkable accomplishment for a first time Independent candidate, running against candidates who were all sitting councillors from political parties.

Another candidate who performed remarkably well for a first time candidate, was Shane McGuinness in Dundalk South. The Fianna Fáil candidate was hoping to take the seat held previously by partty colleague Liam Reilly, who was not seeking re-election, and while he wasn't elected until the final count, he took in 1,055 first preference votes.

In Ardee LEA, all six candidates from the last council term held onto their seats. It did look for a time that Fine Gael candidate Rachel Kerley would take a seat at the expense of party colleague Dolores Minogue, it wasn't until the 12th and final count that saw the incumbent hold on to retain her seat.

Looking at the parties overall, while nationally Sinn Féin was considered to have underperformed, it held its own in Dundalk and Ardee. In Dundalk-Carlingford, the party retained its two seats with Antóin Watters holding his seat, and Fiona Mhic Conchoille wining a seat in her first local election. A seat was previously held in this LEA by Edel Corrigan, with Corrigan chosing not to seek re-election.

In Dundalk South, Kevin Meenan also retained his seat, while Sionainn McCann won her first election, taking a seat previously held by party colleague, Tomás Sharkey, who was not seeking re-election.

Fianna Fáil lost a seat in Dundalk-Carlingford, with Conor Keelan losing out, but it held its two seats in Dundalk South and its seat in Ardee.

It was a good election in Louth for Fine Gael. The party held its seats in the three Dundalk and Ardee LEAs and its candidates performed well, including those who had been co-opted during the last council term and were standing in their first election.