Tipperary Local Elections poll-topper in 2019 drops out - where does that leave everyone else?

If them demons you’re fighting
won’t go away
Drop on your knees and pray
Life can get hard sometimes I
know
You got to get up and walk the
straight and narrow
When they’re chasing you down
with an old bloodhound
And you’re running through the
fields for your life
You got to get up son I know
they’re gunnin’ for ya

The lyrics above are from the Sam Barber song, Straight and Narrow, and I imagine that the words above describe what public life can be like the majority of the time.

In Tipperary, there are 70 brave individuals who have put themselves forward for the 2024 Local Elections - which will determine the make-up of Tipperary County Council for the next five years.

In total, 30 souls will suffer a very public defeat.

While another 40 will be hoisted into the air with the honour for all time of being a public representative for Tipperary County Council.

It is a role which, even in this cynical social media world, carries a lot of gravitas. It is a huge honour to be elected as a councillor, on any council.

Tears will be shed in victory and defeat and here in The Nationalist and Tipperary Star, we will be with you every step of the way in print and online as the Premier County’s public votes on the future of Tipperary.

As Regional Editor for Tipperary, this is my first Local Elections in the Premier County.

I have covered a Local Elections before in another area and I covered the 2016 General Election for a national news title.

But there is nothing like your home county and to get the big picture as they say, I went back to 2019 to see how things went last time around.

We will start there and then look ahead.

Firstly, and for context, five years ago Fine Gael ended up the big winners with twelve seats out of 40 and they were followed by Fianna Fáil with nine, Sinn Féin with two and Labour with one.

There were sixteen Independents. So, that was 2019, what did that make-up mean and what will transpire in 2024?

POLL-TOPPER BOWS OUT

It’s incredible how quickly things can change in politics.

“Michael’s Golden Moment” read the front page of the Tipperary Star on May 30, 2019.

Cllr Michael Fitzgerald was the biggest vote getter last time around with 3,005 votes and five years later, the Fine Gael councillor’s name won’t be on the ballot paper.

Important notice issued on access to Tipperary Local Elections Count Centre

Take note, please!

The significance of this could be huge for Fine Gael in the Cashel-Tipperary LEA as Michael’s votes in 2019 were more than enough to help bring his party colleagues Mary Hanna Hourigan and the then newcomer Declan Burgess well over the finish line with his surplus; as Michael was nearly double the quota when he topped the poll.

John Crosse also retained his seat in 2019 which meant Fine Gael had four of the seven seats for the last five years.
Michael will be sorely missed as a local representative and from a media perspective was always very quotable.

Fine Gael will be trying hard to hold on to his seat in the massive seven-seater that is the Cashel-Tipperary Local Electoral Area where there are 13 candidates vying for seven seats.

Fine Gael are running strong outgoing councillors in Mary Hanna Hourigan, Declan Burgess (*now no longer the rookie) and John Crosse; all of whom are hoping to get re-elected.

And the party is also running farmer Matthew Fogarty from Cahervillahow, Golden, Cashel, who they will be hoping will benefit from a transfer of allegiances in terms of where Michael Fitzgerald’s votes go and a lot of that will come down to

Michael spreading the word on the ground on where his support should end up.

This LEA will be a good indicator on what way the vote is going for all parties.

The remaining three seats for the last five years have been made up of Annemarie Ryan “Shiner” who was an Independent but will be running in June for Sinn Féin alongside the party’s own Tony Black.

Also in the mix has been Roger Kennedy and he will be hoping to retain his Fianna Fáil seat after securing his place on the council following the second count in 2019 with 1,651 votes.

Fianna Fáil’s other candidate in the LEA, Jacqui Finnan, also wasn’t too far away from Ryan and Black five years ago either, with just a few hundred votes between them on the ninth count as the three of them battled it out for the final two seats.

So, we will have every kind of vote circulating during this count.

Fine Gael might be relieved if they retain just three seats, that might be considered a huge success for the party in this LEA.

Which is concerning considering they could come under pressure in other places like the Roscrea-Templemore LEA.
And if that’s the case in Cashel-Tipperary, the big question will be where will the final seat go?

If the support for Sinn Féin in the polls is reflected in the vote, then Molly Browne, a childcare assistant and daughter of Tipperary Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne, could see the Republican party nab a third seat assuming Tony Black and Annemarie Ryan “Shiner” are successful.

John O’Heney has also put in a strong canvassing campaign as an Independent and could well have a say on the day as could fellow Independent Liam Browne who had the whole town of Cashel behind him when public backlash stopped the arrival of 74 International Protection Applicants at the Cashel Holiday Hostel on John’s Street back in November of last year.

The big unknown is, in the absence of council and Fine Gael stalwart Michael Fitzgerald, where do his significant number of votes go?