Roscrea-Templemore had four seats and eight running, but an overhaul was never on the cards

It was clear pretty early on Saturday who the front- runners would be in the Roscrea-Templemore LEA.

All day, it was Michael Smith, Shane Lee, Eddie Moran, William Kennedy and Deirdre Ryan who were the top five.

Michael Smith and Shane Lee overtook each other at various points, with the former eventually topping the poll.

On Saturday night, two councillors were elected in the first count. Michael Smith (FF) saw the finish line first with 2,460 votes.

Shane Lee (Team Lowry) followed closely behind with 2,231 votes.

Following his win, Mr Lee told the Tipperary Star he is honoured to be re-elected in Roscrea-Templemore.

“It has been fantastic and just to thank the constituents who placed their faith in me, I’m very honoured and very grateful.”

He went on to say that his success is a reflection of the work by the Lowry Team.

“The support number one that I received was absolutely phenomenal and a true reflection of the work we do on the Lowry team.

“We are known as a political machine and that is reflected over the weekend.

“So we had five candidates going into the election and we will have five candidates coming out of it so that’s fantastic.

“We have a fantastic office and to have Deputy Lowry working with us is an honour for every one of us,” said Mr Lee.

Roscrea-Templemore has four seats, and eight candidates ran in the election. And by the time the counter centre retired for the night, half of the available seats were filled.

On Sunday, the next seat wasn’t filled until the third count when incumbent Eddie Moran exceeded the quota with 1,887 votes.

His election meant all five Lowry Team candidates were successful.

CAPTION: Eddie Moran, elected on the fourth count

Labour’s Jordan Lewis was eliminated in the fourth count with 245 votes. Labour may have seen a resurgence in Tipperary, but that wasn’t reflected in Roscrea-Templemore.

Green Party’s Aisling Maloney, along with Sinn Féin’s Breandán Ó Conchúir in the fifth count on 297 and 467 respectively.

The latter was perhaps a victim of a disaster of a day for his party across the country.

Newcomer William Kennedy (FG) from Templetouhy took the fourth and final seat in the LEA. He finished on 1,616 votes, just 52 short of the quota.

He will be seen as a good fit as he effectively takes the seat Noel Coonan vacated when he did not contest the election and retains the seat for Fine Gael.

Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Ryan was a consistent fifth all day but was eliminated in the sixth count. She finished with 1,106 votes.

Ms Ryan came to political prominence after the We Just Want to Swim Templemore campaign in 2022/2023. She campaigned on support for community groups and being a voice for families in the area.

Following her elimination, Ms Ryan had this to say to her supporters:

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful in getting a seat in the 2024 Tipperary County Council within the LEA of Roscrea-Templemore.

“Thank you for all the messages of encouragement throughout the past few days and especially the support since the news came out.

“I have enjoyed every minute of my campaign and have loved meeting so many people living in this area. I particularly want to thank my partner Lenny, my children, my family, and especially my 82-year-old dad who walked every step of this journey with me.

“I also want to thank Tim Maher and all those who supported me in this campaign.

She continued:

“I love supporting this community and will continue to advocate for it, its people and its success as I always have done. I wish all the elected representatives good luck in Tipperary County Council and look forward to seeing them work hard for the betterment of our wonderful county.”