No change in one Tipperary local electoral area

With the four sitting councillors likely to be returned to fill seats for a new term for Tipperary County Council there was little drama expected in the 2024 battle for seats in Cahir.

However, Cllr Máirín McGrath changed that narrative entirely by knocking the 2019 poll-topper Cllr Andy Moloney from the top of the table in spectacular fashion.
Her vote, which demonstrated the power of the McGrath electoral machine, was phenomenal.
She received 2,079 first preferences compared to 1,168 in 2019 when she was elected for the first time.

AWESOME
It was an awesome performance, one of the stand-out performances in the county,
Cllr Moloney was the clear favourite to top the poll again in Cahir but his first preference vote of 1,762 surprisingly slipped below the 1,885 first preference votes he registered in 2019.

They were both declared elected in the first count when the first counts from all eight electoral areas were announced late on Saturday night after a marathon counting session in Thurles that day.
It was clear from that first count that the two other sitting councillors, Marie Murphy and Micheál Anglim, were both in a very strong position to hold on to their seats.

Cllr Murphy had 1,153 first preference votes and Cllr Anglim had 906 with a huge gap to their closest challengers Tom Hennessy (Non-Party) with 414 first preference votes and PJ English (Fianna Fáil) with 346 first preference votes.
While PJ English stayed in the race until the seventh count and Tom Hennessy remained in the race until the final eighth count, both candidates were never going to trouble the four sitting councillors

As in 2019, it was the hefty chunk of transfers from PJ English (244), that got Cllr Anglim over the line in the eighth count while Tom Hennessy could be very pleased with his impact on the voters in his first time out.
None of the other four contenders made a significant impact.
Sinn Féin candidate Cathal Ó Héanna took in 222 first preference votes.
In a congested battle he was the only candidate living in the Cahir area. The big Sinn Fein vote, as happened all over the country with a few notable exceptions including the David Dunne vote in Carrick-on-Suir, never materialised.
Both Cathal Ó Héanna and Alan Moynihan, the Social Democrat candidate who recorded 99 first preference votes, were dejected figures when they visited the count centre in Thurles on Saturday.
They both expressed the view that they were happy to have engaged with the electorate on issues that were very important for them and also for the voters.
They both said they were pleased to have experienced running as a candidate for the first time and it gave them a taste of what was involved for the future.
It was a disappointing day for two candidates who declared their intention to run late in the day.
Bill Fitzgerald received 9,133 first preference votes and Shane Smith received 69 first preference votes.