City South returns six sitting councillors
Joeanne Bailey, Sinn Féin, who was elected in Waterford City South. Photo: Joe Evans
It was a long weekend for the 15 candidates of the Waterford City South LEA. After all the tallies, counts and transfers, the six sitting councillors retained their seats on the council.
Cllr Donal Barry was the first to make it over the line, topping the poll with 1,291 votes on the first count, which came through late on Saturday night, June 8.
Early tally indications had been promising for the Independent, and he was the first and only councillor to be returned on the first count.
On Sunday morning, June 9, Sinn Féin Councillor John Hearne followed suit, elected on the second count with 1,065 votes. The Larchville-Lisduggan man was overcome with joy knowing that his community had rallied around him.
The next 10 hours would prove to be an arduous trial for the remaining candidates, with count after count eliminating the lowest performing candidates.
Fianna Fáil's Jason Murphy was the third councillor to be elected, having reached the vote quota of 1,058 on the 10th count. The Larchville native was delighted with the vote of confidence: "I’ve never lived anywhere else, I owe it to the people here who have voted to keep me in for another five years.”
Around 8.30pm, the final count was announced. Slowly at first, then all at once, the three final councillors were elected in one fell swoop.
Cllr Joeanne Bailey (Sinn Féin), Cllr Frank Quinlan (Fine Gael) and Cllr Seamus Ryan (Labour) were surrounded by family, friends and supporters as the returning officer Paul Johnston called out their names within moments of one another, causing a mini stampede for assembled journalists and photographers.
Cllr Bailey was delighted to have won her first election after being co-opted to Waterford Council in 2021 following the departure of fellow party member Breda Brennan (Brennan also contested this election, but was unsuccessful).
Cllr Bailey told the Waterford News & Star: "I am overwhelmed and so, so happy that people have put their faith in me for the next five years. I promise I will work day and night to make people proud for giving me the vote."
Joeanne has been in Sinn Féin for 19 years, having first joined Ógra Sinn Féin.
"I met both members that are here today, I met them in my first meeting in Waterford and that was it.
"I was hooked and I've been on many campaigns with them so it was just so good that they came in behind me on my own campaign."
