Replacment must be found for new TD on Tipperary County Council

Speculation has turned towards the identity of the next Mayor of Clonmel, along with a replacement for Michael Murphy on Tipperary County Council and Clonmel Borough District, following his election to Dáil Eireann at the weekend.

It’s expected that Workers and Unemployed Action Group member Pat English, who is Deputy Mayor, will take over from Deputy Murphy as Mayor when Clonmel Borough District meets next Wednesday morning, December 11.

The Fine Gael party in the Clonmel area, which has approximately 150 members, will convene to choose his replacement on the county council and Borough District. The first step will be to seek nominations, which may or may not be followed by a contest.

It has been a year of triple electoral success for the newly-elected Deputy Murphy. It began in April when he was selected as the party’s General Election candidate in the restored Tipperary South constituency, narrowly defeating Senator Garret Ahearn on a vote of 246 to 213.

While obviously disappointed, Senator Ahearn said the party had selected an incredibly hard worker locally in Clonmel, and he supported Deputy Murphy throughout the General Election campaign.

From there it was onto the Local Elections in June, when Michael Murphy achieved the highest vote in the county with a total of 2,746 first preference votes, which was an increase of 644 from his vote in the Local Elections in 2019.

This saw him elected on the first count in the Clonmel Local Electoral Area and he was subsequently elected Mayor of his home town for the second time.

His success last weekend saw him elected to the Dáil at the second attempt, after he had unsuccessfully contested the General Election in 2011 in the three-seat Tipperary South constituency.

He has now become the first Clonmel native to win a seat for Fine Gael in Tipperary South since the foundation of the State.

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As he reflected on his latest election, Deputy Murphy extended thanks to his campaign managers, Cllrs John FitzGerald and Marie Murphy, as well as Lucy McCormack, Chair of the Fine Gael constituency organisation, and his fellow councillors.