Waterford’s upsets and underdogs in election overview

Analysis of the Local Elections 2024 across the Déise
Waterford’s upsets and underdogs in election overview

Pat Fitzgerald, Sinn Féin, who was elected at the Waterford Election 24 at SETU Arena. Photo: Joe Evans

  • Independents dominate taking 8 seats
  • Fine Gael increases Council footing
  • Roche wins first seat for Social Democrats
  • Wipeout for Green Party as Metro Mayor loses seat
  • Fianna Fáil's 'fall'
  • As the tallying began in SETU Arena on Saturday morning, June 8, no one expected: the Fianna 'fall', the Independent councillors to make up a quarter of Waterford City and County Council, the first Social Democrat, nor a Green Party that definitely did reduce, but not Reuse nor Recycle.

    From first thing Saturday morning until just before 11pm on Sunday night, the Arena had a steady crowd coming and going to support their potential representatives. Whether it was the security approach or the modern-day technology and technicality of tallying, or the accessibility of content with WLR FM providing an extremely successful live stream to the people of Waterford, there was a calm atmosphere all around and the usual election buzz and cheers were somewhat quieter this time around. 

    It was only when two or more candidates were deemed elected in the same count that true excitement captured everyone’s attention.

    Fianna Fáil Drop

    Some of the major upsets over the weekend included how poorly Fianna Fáil performed, however, they still came away with five seats out of 32, which isn’t as poorly as how the Green Party performed. 

    Speaking as the count came to a close on Sunday night, Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler TD said she's "a little bit disappointed" at the Fianna Fáil result for Waterford, adding that the candidates worked extremely hard throughout the campaign.

    In 2019 Fianna Fáil took eight seats in the Council Chamber, so it is a considerable drop in representation for the party. 

    "There's always winners and losers. I suppose if you're to look at it overall from a national perspective, I'm really happy with the Fianna Fáil vote in general." 

    The Minister also said the national story of the day is the decline in the Sinn Féin vote, which wasn't reflected in the Waterford results as Sinn Féin gained an additional seat. 

    Green losses

    Despite the Green Party's support of the North Quays development, and a recent visit from the Minister for Transport, and Green Party Leader, Eamon Ryan, to view its progress, it’s entirely possible that what the people of Waterford actually wanted was delivery on Waterford Airport, and Minister Ryan doesn’t appear to have an urgency about dealing with the business plan that’s been in his Department for months now.

    Looking at the Green Party’s recent presence in Waterford, it can’t be denied that they were in an ideal position to have a positive influence on Waterford’s future with an MEP, a TD and two local councillors. Over the course of the weekend that all changed and now it's only Marc Ó Cathasaigh, TD, whose role is safe. 

    European wait

    At the time of going to print MEP Grace O'Sullivan's votes were still being counted in Cork for the Ireland South elections. In the early stages of the count, O'Sullivan stated her possibility of being re-elected was "slipping away", but that was fluctuating as the count went on with an increase in expected first-preference votes and some strong transfers. 

    No Green Party councillors were elected to Waterford City and County Council, meaning the current Metropolitan Mayor, Cllr Jody Power, lost his seat, along with his colleague, Cllr Cristiona Kiely.

    Underdogs 

    The Independent councillors each deserve the recognition for coming up trumps against the well-established political parties, not so much in rural areas, but most definitely across the city with a total of eight seats.

    Serving the previous Council as an Independent Councillor, Mary Roche had a struggle to keep her seat. She will continue her role as a councillor, with her new Social Democrat hat, being the first representative to take a seat for the party in Waterford.

    Considering Sinn Féin ran 18 candidates, it could be considered an upset that they didn’t have more than seven winning seats, but one of those seats was won by first-time candidate, Donnchadh Mulcahy, who represents Sinn Féin for the first time since the 1920s in the Lismore district.

    Content 

    Reflecting the slow and steady pace of the count, Labour held their own by knowing where their strengths lie. This meant choosing not to run a labour candidate in the Comeragh district where former Councillor Ger Barron retired from in recent weeks.

    Of the directly elected councillors in the Local Elections 2019, 22 representatives have been deemed re-elected and will return to their seats for the next five-year term. This begs the question, if the Waterford people re-elected these candidates, are they content with their local politicians?

    It seems the politicians were content with how things landed, and not a recount in sight.

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