Downey the first casualty of Sinn Féin demise
Sinn Féin has lost the first of its four council seats with the elimination of Daniel Downey after the third count. It's shaping up to be a catastrophic day for the party locally as none of the party's out-going councillors are safe as day two of the election count heats up in Cavan Leisure Complex.
The Moynehall man was fighting his first election having been co-opted onto Eugene Greenan's seat. His fate was confirmed after he attracted just one vote from John Paul Feeley's modest surplus of 69 bringing him up to 435.
The redistribution of Downey's votes in count 4 has seen almost half stay loyal to the party, with Damien Brady claiming 193 transfers. He is now However the Ballyconnell man's hopes are hanging by a thread as it is between Brady (922), Peter McVitty (1,027) and Patricia Walsh (1,113) in the race for the last two seats. Brady's lagging behind McVitty by just 105 votes, and by 191 from Walsh - it's all to play for.
With left wingers Emmett Smith (S-PBP) and Labour's Van Der Spek to be excluded in later counts freeing up circa 1,100 votes, Brady will hope to claim significant transfers. The count staff are currently redistributing Emmett Smith's 567 votes.
However, Smith and Van Der Spek are both Cavan Town based, and Patricia Walsh will expect to mop up her fair share - although she got only 38 of Moynehall man Downey's transfers. Despite being on the far side of the county, and on the other side of the political spectrum, Peter McVitty has a proven record of transfer friendliness. It's all to play for but Brady's political future is in jeopardy.
John Paul Feeley (FF) is the only one officially elected in Cavan-Belturbet, having exceeded the quota on the first count late last night. Outgoing FG cathaoirleach Madeleine Argue (1,294), Independent Brendan Fay (1241), and Fianna Fail's Sean Smith (1,150) are all but home and hosed.
Mild mannered Daniel was a popular figure in the chamber, and speaking to the Celt yesterday he said he was "disappointed" by his vote.
"At the same time, elected or unelected, I'll still be out doing community work for the people of Cavan," he vowed.
Daniel said he was surprised by Sinn Féin’s performance in Cavan but said it appears to be a nationwide trend that the party will have to address:
“It’s something we have to learn from. We have to see where we’ve done wrong, where we’ve dropped and why we’ve dropped; talk to our members and talk to our supporters and see how we can rectify that.”
State of play for last two seats:
Walsh (FF) 1113
McVitty (FG) 1027
Brady (SF) 922
For live updates from the count centre across the weekend, keep up to date with out blog
https://www.anglocelt.ie/news/roundup/articles/2019/05/26/4174702-live-election-blog-2019-day-2/