Now that it’s all over, we look back on this year’s Local Elections – and give out some very unofficial awards as well as pick out some of the standout quotes from the candidates.
Gracious Losers
With the exception of multiple stolen or tampered posters early in the campaign, which was an issue across the country, the election in Laois was largely a clean, sporting, one with few reports of nastiness between candidates. There was certainly little tension in the Count Centre.
Those that get our strongest admiration are the defeated candidates that showed up over the couple of days to the Count Centre, particularly when it became apparent they weren’t in the running.
Showing up, offering congratulations to those who are successful and commiserating with other defeated candidates must be a difficult thing to – but it is absolutely the right thing.
They, in particular, deserve huge respect.
Comeback Queen – Vivienne Phelan
There is only one winner of this one – and that is Vivienne Phelan from Stradbally who won a seat in the Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District for Fine Gael.
She was 191 votes behind her running mate – and outgoing councillor – PJ Kelly on the first count but closed that gap, bit by but, before eventually overtaking him in the 10th and final count.
With the exception of the distribution of Fianna Fáil’s Joey Kennedy – whose Portarlington base is geographically closer to PJ Kelly in Ballybrittas – she made ground on every count.
And it shows – again – how every vote and every preference matters.
Transfer Queen – Marie Tuohy
After the first count in Portlaoise, Labour’s outgoing councillor Marie Tuohy was on 632 votes, eight ahead of Fianna Fáil’s Naeem Iqbal who was on 624.
But despite not having a running mate, Tuohy proved very transfer friendly and it became apparently early on that she was going to be elected.
After the 14th and final count she had 1,119 votes compared to Iqbal’s 775 and the lead was 346.
Of all the candidates eliminated, or those elected with a surplus, it was only the distribution of the votes of Bolaji Adeyanju that favoured Iqbal. “I’m told I’m transfer friendly,” said Tuohy in an understated way.
That she certainly was.
Spoil Sport!
On Monday evening, as we awaited the last counts in the various districts, a number of children, primarily grand-children of candidates awaiting election, arrived in the Count Centre for the impending celebrations.
With no announcements coming quickly and boredom setting in, a few of them took it upon themselves to organise an old-fashioned, boisterous, game of ‘Bulldog’, running from one side of the hall to the next.
Other than nearly knocking down Minister Sean Fleming at one stage, it wasn’t disturbing any of the onlookers, who all had plenty of space further up the hall.
But it was quite noisy, eventually prompting Returning Officer Donal Brennan to step up to the mic, explain that the count staff were struggling to concentrate and apologetically ask that they stop the game and go outside.
The children duly did what they were asked but it didn’t prevent a chorus of good-humoured boos ringing around the hall!
On a serious note, despite a slow start and indeed a slow count, Returning Officer Donal Brennan was confident in his process throughout that it would lead to minimal errors and risk of recounts.
It may have taken longer than many counties – and that was frustrating for many – but he stood by his principles and communicated clearly throughout.
Unquotable quote
We won’t give away the identity of the person who uttered this classic, nor who they were talking about, though they probably wouldn’t mind.
“I’m up and … is down and that’s all that f***ng matters.”
Character of the count
You meet some great characters at Election Counts, where the stories and jokes flow freely.
So it is hard to pick one above another. But our choice for this honour is Conor Dunne, a 16-year-old from Portarlington who was supporting PJ Kelly right throughout his campaign – canvassing, attending meetings, updating social media and doing any other jobs that needed to be done.
Too young to vote, but not too young to get stuck in, he was a breath of fresh air and was there from first minute to last.
Quotable quotes
“When I saw the Durrow boxes, tears came out of my eyes. Genuinely, when the teller was calling ‘Clooney, Clooney, Clooney’, I couldn’t believe it.”
Durrow-based Independent Ollie Clooney was blown away by the level of support he received from his home community.
“Look, there are only seven seats, 20 candidates; not everyone can win. What we can do is go out with a positive frame of mind, do our best, connect with the people, present ourselves and let the people decide who they want.”
Naeem Iqbal, who ran for Fianna Fáil in Portlaoise, reflects on his campaign.
“They all thought I was crackers to be honest with you. We wouldn’t be a very political family; we’d be very interested in Irish history, but we wouldn’t be a political family.”
Tommy Mulligan (Independent) took the third seat in Portlaoise. He describes his family’s reaction when he told them he was running.
“I thought PJ (Kelly) had run a strong campaign – my party colleague – and I thought he was definitely going to take the seat. So I’d kind of written myself off on Saturday.”
Vivienne Phelan staged a massive comeback to pip her Fine Gael party colleague to the final seat in Graiguecullen-Portarlington.
“I’ve great neighbours as friends and I’ve great friends as neighbours. And they criss-crossed over the political divide to try retain that rural seat, and it’s gone now.”
PJ Kelly reacts on his campaign having been overtaken in the 10th count for the final seat in Graigue-Port.
“No, you never go backwards, that’s why the rear-view mirror is smaller than the windscreen.”
Independent Aisling Moran on whether she would consider a return to Fine Gael, the party she was elected to in 2019 but left during the last term of the council.
“It felt special to win as I don’t see it as a seat for me but I see it as a seat for Ballyroan and the surrounding communities.”
Fine Gael’s Barry Walsh on his election success in the Portlaoise Municipal District, which continues Ballyroan’s proud record of local representation.
“We have to take a look at our house, and I’ve no doubt that the party will do that. I think the party just has to take a good look at what’s gone wrong, the message wasn’t gotten out there, it wasn’t clear. It wasn’t a good day for the party, and we have to acknowledge that.”
Caroline Dwane-Stanley (Sinn Fein) increased her personal vote in Portlaoise – but it was an underwhelming election for the party across the country.
“Next time I will make sure I’ve more time; five weeks – not a lot of time. Unfortunately, I was knocking on doors and I didn’t really get to chat to people. I was rushing to the next door because I wanted to get the ground covered. But next time I’ll be starting a lot earlier.”
Fianna Fáil candidate Joey Kennedy at 19 was the youngest in the race – and after a strong showing, he says he’ll be better prepared in five years time.
“I really appreciate the people that did vote for me; and look, it won’t deter me; I’ll be going out again. I’ve really enjoyed it from day one.”
Sinn Fein’s Aaron Kelly from Graiguecullen polled really strongly without winning a seat – and he is keen to run again in 2029.
“It’s probably not the conversation to have for today. But look it is something I would certainly consider when the time comes up. Today is for the locals”.
Fine Gael’s Conor Bergin was the biggest vote-getter in the county – and with a vacancy in the party for a General Election candidate, he has certainly done his chances the world of good.
A sticky gimmick
Election paraphernalia be a collector’s item in some place as badges, leaflets and various other merchandise appears when we’re asked to go to the polls.
In the Count Centre over the weekend, it was as if some Fianna Fáil supporters had stepped back in time, with stickers, emblazoned on their jumpers, shirts and jackets.
Whether it was the tone of green and orange, or the design, the stickers seemed strikingly similar to what FF had in their glory days in the 1970s and 1980s. Maybe that was deliberate.
But some of their mischievious supporters were keeping a roll of them in their pockets and jokingly handing them out to younger observers, particularly if they were of a different political persuasion. You couldn’t be up to them!
Prediction of the weekend
While his own election was a disappointing one, it didn’t prevent Eoin Barry of Labour from keeping a close eye on proceedings over the weekend.
And late on Sunday night after a couple of counts had been completed in Graiguecullen-Portarlington, he predicted to LaoisToday that PJ Kelly’s lead wasn’t enough and that Vivienne Phelan would “take the last seat by 15 votes or so”.
In the end, Phelan finished 17 votes clear. “If only it was a contest for reading a Municipal District,” he joked ruefully!
Best dressed
With the long gaps before counts and between counts, we could well have had a series of side shows to keep people entertained.
Sing-songs and Irish dancing performances were suggested – but we also had an idea for a best-dressed, like at the races, where a judge could have went around putting a sticker on some of the contenders.
We’re just going to shortlist a couple of best-dressed men as, to quote Fr Ted, ‘it wouldn’t be fair on the girls’.
For us, it would have been a toss-up between Fianna Fáil stalwart William Delaney – whose wine-coloured trousers on Monday were very eye-catching – Sean Fleming’s ministerial assistant Eoin Delaney, in a very sharp grey suit, and John Mulligan, dad of Portlaoise Independent success story Tommy – who was also smartly suited and booted right throughout the weekend.
From a stag to the Count Centre
There’s not too many people who go straight from their own stag party to the Count Centre – but that’s exactly what Eoin Scully did on Sunday night.
He arrived back from his stag weekend in Lahinch on Sunday night and got dropped at the Count Centre for fear he’d miss something. The former chairman of Laois Fianna Fáil wasn’t specifically supporting any candidate but he has a great head for the figures and was back in the thick of it straight away.
Best supporters
Ben Brennan’s crew were once again incredibly good-humoured, though they didn’t have to hang around as long on this occasion as they did in 2019.
His young grandchildren even had special ‘Vote Granddad’ t-shirts for the occasion in his trademark green, white and gold colours of both Crettyard GAA and St Abban’s AC.
And like Naeem Iqbal and James Kelly, they also had the great sense to bring their own table and chairs which makes the Count Centre a much more comfortable experience.
But we’re giving our Fair Play award for the Best Supporters to Barry Walsh’s gang from Ballyroan.
For many of them it was a first election experience but they were there in big numbers from Saturday morning at the tallies and right throughout the weekend before culminating for the celebrations on Monday evening where they duly belted out ‘The Skies Oer Ballyroan’.
Many of the great family names from Ballyroan were there for the occasions – Scullys, Delaneys, Mulhalls and McWeys to name a few – while the job of hoisting Walsh into the air went to two of the best men for the job – his cousin Patrick Moran and Daire Phelan, two ferociously strong men!
A favourite photo
Children are an almost must-have fashion accessory at a Count Centre and one of our favourite images from the 2019 Local Elections was that of Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Fitzgerald with her seven grandchildren.
Five years later, she now has nine and they’ve all gotten a lot bigger and stronger.
So it was good fun to replicate the 2019 photo with a 2024 version.
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 Local Election coverage here
