County Cathaoirleach could top poll in Galway East

WITH all the 169 boxes in Galway East now tallied, it looks like the first TDs that will be elected in the four-seat constituency will be Ind Sean Canney and FF’s Albert Dolan.

Dolan, aged 25 from Monivea, has put in a hugely impressive performance and could even top the poll.

Turnout in Galway East looks like it will be about 63 per cent and the quota will be somewhere around 10,400.

Looking at the tallies, both Dolan and Canney are neck and neck, with Dolan at 19% and Canney at 18.6%.

Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara was adamant throughout the campaign that he was there to win a seat and tallies have him at close to 14%, which puts him in very strong contention. He is polling similar to 2020 but he failed to pick up enough transfers at the end.

Fine Gael’s Pete Roche is the strongest of three FG candidates at nearly 10%. City Cllr Clodagh Higgins is at 6.4% and Niamh Madden at 5%.

Independent Ireland’s Declan Geraghty, a County Councillor from Williamstown, has polled well also and is at 9.5 per cent. He will need to stay ahead once the count gets underway and secure transfers to be in with a chance of a seat.

Fianna Fáil’s Anne Rabbitte could be at risk of losing her seat. The tallies have her at 7.5% but she may benefit from transfers as candidates get eliminated during the count. She has been a Minister of State for a number of years and was elected first in 2016.

The only two certain seats in this constituency appear to be for Sean Canney (IND) and Albert Dolan (FF).

Tallies put FF at 26.5%, FG at 21% and SF at 13.7%. IND took 20% of votes and Ind Ireland at 9.5%.