With the latest Local Elections now behind us, the General Election is the next item on the agenda.
Here we look at the state of play of each party (and Independents) on the back of their Local Election performance.
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil come back to Laois County Council with the same number of seats that they went out with (six).
Their vote, though bigger than anyone else for the third election running, has remained relatively stagnant and you have to go back 10 years, to Paschal McEvoy’s breakthrough success in 2014, for the last time they elected a new face.
All of their councillors were comfortably elected in the end though two of their standard-bearers in Padraig Fleming and John Joe Fennelly saw their first preferences fall by 486 and 309 votes respectively.
The relatively strong showing of 19-year-old Joey Kennedy in Portarlington, where he got 578 first preferences, offers shoots of optimism in a town where they once had two councillors.
Brian Phelan and Fintan Cuddy polled relatively well in Borris-Mountmellick without ever winning a seat while Naeem Iqbal in Portlaoise did ok on first preferences but struggled on transfers as neither John Joe Fennelly nor Catherine Fitzgerald had a surplus and, unlike previous campaigns, they didn’t have a fourth candidate in the race.
Their team in Laois County Council bring great experience to the chamber – with an average service now of over 22 years apiece – though a time will come when they need new names to take over.
Fianna Fáil Local Election vote through the years
- 2024 – 10,077 (29.01%): 6 seats
- 2019 – 10,355 – (32.05%): 7 seats
- 2014 – 10,837 – (32.8%): 7 seats*
- 2009 – 11,658 (38.29%): 8 seats
- 2004 – 11,521 (37.74%): 11 seats
- 1999 – 12,839 (51.2%): 14 seats
* 2014 was the first election where only 19 councillors were returned. Prior to that there were 25 councillors.
Fine Gael
Collectively this wasn’t a wonderful campaign for Fine Gael either who saw their share of the vote drop for the the third election in a row and they go back to the Council with only five seats, their lowest ever.
They did run two fewer candidates on this occasion (eight) than they did in 2019 but the big loss was in Portlaoise where they lost a seat; Thomasina Connell missing out to Independent Tommy Mulligan.
Vivienne Phelan’s comeback triumph in Graiguecullen-Portarlington was thrilling for observers but it came at the expense of their outgoing councillor PJ Kelly so there was no party gain there. They had previously lost Aisling Moran, who had been elected for Fine Gael in 2019, but was an Independent on this occasion.
Conor Bergin was the biggest vote-getter in the county with over 1,600 first preferences but they still lost over 700 votes in that Borris-Mountmellick area compared to 2019.
Charlie Flanagan remarked at the Fine Gael launch in late April that Fine Gael weren’t running ‘sweepers’ though Paddy Buggy in Mountmellick could certainly have done with one as despite getting 1,111 votes, he was ultimately well beaten by Seamus McDonald who had three FF candidates beneath him.
John King in Rathdowney had a personal triumph as he grew his vote by 100 votes while Willie Aird’s enduring popularity shone through again – topping the poll for a fifth successive election in Portlaoise. You have to go back to 1999 for the last time he didn’t exceed the quota on his first count.
Barry Walsh, who was co-opted to fill the vacancy left by Mary Sweeney two years ago, performed solidly too and was never in doubt. He built on Sweeney’s vote in Ballyroan though didn’t have the same profile in Portlaoise and his overall vote was down. That could well change in coming elections
With Flanagan not contesting the next General Election, we could have a humdinger of a battle to see who gets on the ticket. Aird may be in his mid 60s and be on the old side for a first time Dail candidate but if he puts his name forward, he’ll have considerable support.
Conor Bergin has done all the right things so far – but Walsh and Phelan are credible options while Thomasina Connell, though weakened by this loss, should not be utterly discounted either.
Fine Gael’s Local Election vote through the years
- 2024 – 8,803 (25.34%): 5 seats
- 2019 – 9,578 (29.64%): 7 seats
- 2014 – 9,959 (30.2%): 6 seats
- 2009 – 13,175 (38.29%): 12 seats
- 2004 – 8,504 (27.86%): 9 seats
- 1999 – 8,271 (32.98%): 10 seats
Willie Aird’s poll-topping dominance
- 2024 – 1,541 (1st count)
- 2019 – 1,573 (1st count)
- 2014 – 1,450 (1st count)
- 2009 – 1,485 (1st count)
- 2004 – 1,244 (1st count)
Sinn Féin
It wasn’t a bad election for Sinn Féin in Laois, nor was it a good one.
They held what they had, comfortably retaining the two seats they went out with – though it was nowhere near their General Election vote of 2020 and their percentage vote on this occasion was even lower than what the opinion polls were suggesting.
But there were still positives. Though way off Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s numbers overall, they still got a record number of first preferences for the party in Laois.
Aidan Mullins saw a drop of 245 votes in his support but that was compensated for by his running mate Aaron Kelly in Graiguecullen getting 785 first preferences on his first attempt. Could he be a running mate for Brian Stanley in the General Election?
Caroline Dwane-Stanley got her biggest vote ever (up 205 on her 2019 showing) but Maria McCormack and Jason Phelan got just 400 votes between them in the same Portlaoise district.
Elsewhere, in Borris-Mountmellick, Lorna Holohan-Garry was down approximately 250 votes on what she got in 2019 and Helen Campion got 419 votes and was out of the running early on.
Caroline Dwane-Stanley said afterwards that there were no regrets in running the number of candidates they did. They had seven runners in the field, a record high, and though they made no gains in terms of seats, their presence is still stronger now than ever.
Sinn Féin Local Election vote through the years
- 2024 – 4,831 (13.91%): 2 seats
- 2019 – 3,604 (11.15%): 2 seats
- 2014 – 4,204 (12.7%): 2 seats
- 2009 – 2,810 (8.17%): 1 seat
- 2004 – 1,147 (3.76%): 1 seat
- 1999 – 416 (1.66%): 0 seats
Independents
As was the case across the country, Independents had a strong election and their vote in Laois was reflective of that, with a record high 26.38% and five seats won across all three districts.
So far, there has been no alliance of Independent candidates in Laois – though it will be interesting to see who, if any, put their names forward for the General Election. There hasn’t been an Independent TD in Laois since Oliver J Flanagan in the 1940s, prior to him linking up with Fine Gael.
Tommy Mulligan became the first Independent in Portlaoise since Tom Jacob while Ben Brennan and Aisling Moran in Graiguecullen-Portarlington and Ollie Clooney and James Kelly also put in big showings in Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick.
Timahoe man Patsy Fennell got a decent vote for the new Independent Ireland party while Pauline Flanagan was the strongest of the Independent candidates in Portlaoise.
Independent Local Election vote through the years
- 2024 – 9,164 (26.38%): 5 seats
- 2019 – 6,975 (21.59%): 3 seats
- 2014 – 6,208 (18.8%): 3 seats
- 2009 – 4,711 (13.69%): 3 seats
- 2004 – 4,813 (15.77%): 2 seats
- 1999 – 2,487 (9.92%): 1 seat
Labour
Though they struggle to grow across the country, Labour do maintain their representation in Laois County Council which has been almost constant across the past 40 years (1999-2004 was the only time they didn’t have a seat).
Minus the vote-getting power of Noel Tuohy, who had more than 1,000 first preferences in 2019, Eoin Barry in Graigue-Port and Bryan Corrigan in Borris-Mountmellick both had disappointing campaigns.
But their star performer was Marie Tuohy, who held the seat in Portlaoise after benefitting massively from transfers.
Noel Tuohy was a General Election candidate in 2020 and they’ll be keen to have a name on the ballot paper again, even if their chances will be slim.
Labour Local Election vote through the years
- 2024 – 1,237 (3.56%): 1 seat
- 2019 – 1,797 (5.56%): 1 seat
- 2014 – 1,544 (4.7%): 1 seat
- 2009 – 2,007 (5.83%): 1 seat
- 2004 – 1,250 (4.09%): 1 seat
- 1999 – 1,063 (4.24%): 0 seats
Green Party
Having not had a candidate in Laois in 2019 – when there was a ‘Green Wave’ in many constituencies across the country – they had three representatives on this occasion, the first time in 20 years that they had candidates here.
But they’d a poor campaign nationally and that was reflected here in Laois with just 630 votes between the three of them and they made little impact.
That was also compounded in Offaly with the loss of Mark Hackett’s seat and it leaves Minister Pippa Hackett in a weak position going into the General Election, where she will be running in Offaly.
Green Party Local Election vote through the years
- 2024 – 630 (1.19%): 0 seats
- 2019 – 0
- 2014 – 0
- 2009 – 0
- 2004 – 220 (0.72%): 0 seats
- 1999 – 0
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 Local Election coverage here
