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Simon and Caoimhe arrive… SAT30NOV24
he faithful, the fretful and the fearful were out in force at 
Shoreline yesterday, as the first count for the general election got underway.
he faithful, the fretful and the fearful were out in force at 
Shoreline yesterday, as the first count for the general election got underway.Up for grabs are four Wicklow seats, with Harris unsurprisingly securing his on that first count, with 16,869 1st preferences, or 29.56% of the vote.
The number of votes needed to secure a seat is 11,415.
John Brady with former Sinn Féin councillor Nicola Lawless
So, also looking likely to retain their place at the Dáil Christmas party are Sinn Fein’s John Brady (8,450 – 14.81%) and Social Democrats’ Jennifer Whitmore (7,699 – 13.49%).
The real battle will be for that fourth seat, with Stephen Donnelly on 3,553 votes (6.23%), former Fine Gaeler Shay Cullen on 3,232 (5.66%) and the man who took the latter’s FG ticket, Edward Timmins on 3,050 (5.34%).
Behind them on that first day’s count is Bray independent Joe Behan with 2,909 votes (5.10%) and the Green Party’s Steven Matthews with 2,366 (4.15%), the latter looking likely to lose his seat.
The rest of Saturday’s 1st preference votes saw Labour’s Paul O’Brien on 2,009 (3.52%), Independents Gerry O’Neill on 1,963 (3.44%) and Rob Carry on 1,597 (2.80%), Aontu’s Ciaran Hogan on 1,267 (2.22%), People Before Profit’s Kellie McConnell on 1,267 (2.21%), Independent Philip Dwyer on 435 (0.76%), Independent Party’s Michaela Keddy on 242 (0.42%), with 
Independents Charlie Keddy on 141 (0.25%), Dominic Plant on 21 votes (0.04%) and Sean O’Leary on 9 votes (0.02%).
Independents Charlie Keddy on 141 (0.25%), Dominic Plant on 21 votes (0.04%) and Sean O’Leary on 9 votes (0.02%).Partywise in Wicklow, Fine Gael scored 34.90% of the vote, Sinn Féin 14.81%, Social Democrats 13.49%, Fianna Fáil 6.23%, Green Party 4.15%, Labour 3.52%, People Before Profits 2.21% and the Independents scored 20.70%.
Late Sunday night, and Jennifer Whitmore finally secured her seat on the 9th count, with 12,224 votes, whilst John Brady secured his on the 11th count, with 11,945 votes, whipping off, as always, his tricolour y-fronts to celebrate. That fourth and final seat went to Fine Gael’s Edward Timmins’, on 9,110 votes on the 13th count, whilst Stephen Donnelly has lost his seat, with just 7,547 votes.
We’ll be catching up on the final result later, as will the town’s no.1 roving snapper, John McGowan, who took the pics here.
1 comment
The selfish electorate voted for the status quo, EG Those with no mortgages, or no rents, the wealthy from the affluent suburbs of our Country, The very rich and influential who have a strangle hold on the establishment political classes who create loopholes and Laws that suit their interests, they were the winners. The losers as usual the struggling citizens with huge mortgages, exorbant mostly unnafordable rents but they struggle to pay them or join the 15000 indigenous Irish homeless. The 40% that did not bother to vote but continue to moan about the election results deserve all the hardship that may come their way. We as a Nation are entering into very unstable economic future, lets hope all goes according to Michael and Simons vision of the future.