Gallagher and Lawless make their mark as O'Brien sweeps all before him again

THERE was no shortage of drama in the Claremorris six seat constituency where history was made on two fronts on Saturday night. Paul Lawless from Knock became the first candidate from the new Aontú party to secure election to a Council in the western province and Alma Gallagher from Ballyhaunis became the first ever female to be elected in this region.

It was a long day into night for the candidates and especially for those in the shake-up for the final seats. From once the tallies became known, it was clear that five of the six seats were already in the bag. Patsy O’Brien from Robeen closed in on around 2,800 first preference votes with another phenomenal performance.

Five years ago, Patsy topped the poll for Fine Gael but this time he was standing as an Independent. He secured the biggest vote of any candidate in Mayo and already there is strong talk that he could stand in the next General Election. Early speculation abounds about him running on the Independent Ireland ticket following the huge performance of Chris Maxwell for the new party in the Westport region.

Richard Finn (Independent) put in another huge performance securing1,831 votes on the first count and ensuring that the dynasty started by his late father Martin (a former Fine Gael TD back in the 1970s) was maintained in remarkable fashion. It was incredible to see Patsy O’Brien and Richard Finn maintain such strong positions with the electorate of the Claremorris region.

Damien Ryan of Fianna Fail and Michael Burke of Fine Gael, both from the Ballinrobe area, were assured of their seats after the first count. There were no surprises here as every political forecaster had put them in the winner’s enclosure in the days and weeks leading up to the election.

It was, as I said in my preview two weeks ago, always going to come down to four candidates for two seats, Tom Connolly (outgoing) and Alma Gallagher of Fine Gael, Paul Lawless of Aontú and Stephen Nolan for Fianna Fail.

It became clear when the tallies came in that Alma Gallagher was on course to win a seat which she did with relative ease and with mammoth support from John Cribbin who stepped down after 25 years of dedicated service to the region.

Tally errors

While Stephen Nolan put in a huge campaign and secured around 900 first preference votes, the final showdown was always going to be between Tom Connolly and Paul Lawless. Errors in the tally figures gave considerable hope to the Fine Gael camp that they would edge the seat but when the first count came in, Paul Lawless had secured 85 extra votes from those relayed in the tallies.

You could since a mood swing right away with renewed hope in the Aontú camp and fresh concern on the Fine Gael side. The gap was down to just 39 votes. Tom Connolly, as expected benefitted more than Paul Lawless from the distribution of Patsy O’Brien’s surplus but the gap still stood at just 82.

Paul edged ahead by six votes after the distribution of the votes of Eamon Phelan, Geraldine Kelly, Aaron Kelly and Sandra Sweetman. Mark Devane, standing for Independent Ireland, surprised many by securing 658 first preferences and reaching 820 before elimination. Paul Lawless benefitted significantly from that distribution and this assured him of election even before the distribution of Stephen Nolan’s votes which were always going to lean massively towards Alma Gallagher and also to Paul Lawless.

Feeling of empathy

Narrowly losing a seat is never easy and there was a palpable feeling of empathy with Tom Connolly across political lines. There was also a sense of widespread appreciation for Tom among many from the general Claremorris region for work done in relation to infrastructure and facilities in the area during his 20 years on the Council, helped in no small way by his friendship with former Minister, Michael Ring TD.

It now looks as if newly elected Alma Gallagher will be a Fine Gael candidate in the next General Election. There is a huge geographical area of east and south Mayo without a party candidate since the days of John O’Mahony and Jim Higgins and Alma is almost certainly being prepared for what may well be a formidable challenge for a Dail seat.

It is, of course, also likely that Paul Lawless will fly the Aontú flag in the General Election which will take place within the next year while Patsy O’Brien, as hinted earlier on, may well be coaxed to stand for Independent Ireland. After four years without an election, another one is closing in on us already. Interesting times ahead!