Eight per cent rise in Fianna Fáil vote helps to secure surprise extra seat

Fianna Fáil increased its representation from the Tullamore electoral area to three, after a stunning success. Cllr Barry Cowen topped the poll and was elected on the first count, after exceeding the quota, whilst first-time county council candidate Sinead Dooley was third in first preferences and was subsequently elected. The Cowen factor was clearly at play as Cllr Dooley is the Taoiseach"s constituency secretary and Barry, his brother. It was a phenomenal performance from Barry Cowen, whose share of the first preferences rose from 10% in 2004 to 13.8%. Mountbolus-based Cllr Danny Owens made light of the loss of much of his heartland to the Ferbane electoral area to bring Fianna Fáil"s representation to three. Overall, Fianna Fáil increased its vote by a whopping eight percentage points in the Tullamore electoral area, admittedly from a real low of just 25.2% in 2004. In total six of the outgoing seven councillors were re-elected as the people of the Tullamore area showed their approval of the performances of the existing councillors. Only Cllr Michael Fox, who was elected in 2004 for Fine Gael, but subsequently joined the independent ranks earlier this year, does not return, after he had opted to contest the Edenderry electoral area. However, for Fine Gael Fox"s defection was compensated by the fact that Fine Gael had picked up Cllr Molly Buckley (elected as an independent in 2004) since the last local election and so entered this election with two councillors. Despite also increasing its share of the vote by a significant seven percentage points to 29%, the party was unable to add to its representation with its other candidates Frank Feery and Vinny O"Brien failing to challenge for a third seat. Cllr Tommy McKeigue was also elected on the first count, while Cllr Molly Buckley, running for Fine Gael polled 1,168 votes this time around, and was elected on the sixth count. Independent Cllr Dervill Dolan saw his personal vote drop by over 20%, but his seat was always safe after his first preference haul of 1,167. Labour, once again, failed to make the long-awaited breakthrough at county council level - and the days of Pat Gallagher"s dominance of the Tullamore electoral area for the party are now fast becoming a distant memory. However, the party"s candidate, Sean O"Brien, was pivotal in the destination of the final seat. His elimination and the distribution of his votes, pushed Johnny Butterfield above Clara-based independent Frank Moran and led to the latter"s elimination. Transfers of 113 to Butterfield and just 31 to Moran, from O"Brien"s vote saved kept the outgoing Killoughey independent councillor in the race. Eventually, he saw off the challenge of Sinn Féin"s Brendan Killeavy for the final seat by just 24 votes. Butterfield too had to fight against the odds, after seeing much of his local area hived off to the Ferbane region. Killeavy"s display (he also earned a town council seat) was particularly impressive and bodes well for Sinn Féin in the future.