Kerry County Council election, 2014

Kerry County Council election, 2014
All 33 seats to Kerry County Council ; 17 seats needed for a majority
	Map showing the area of Kerry County Council
	Council control after election; TBD;

Last updated April 14, 2019

An election to Kerry County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 33 councillors were elected from four local electoral areas (LEAs) by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office. This is a reduction of LEA and an increase in 6 seats compared to 2009. In addition Killarney Town Council, Listowel Town Council and Tralee Town Council were all abolished.

Kerry County Council is the authority responsible for local government in County Kerry, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, and environment. The council has 33 elected members. Elections are held every five years and are by single transferable vote. The head of the council has the title of cathaoirleach. The county administration is headed by a Chief Executive, Moira Murrell. The county town is Tralee.

Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castle, Muckross House and Abbey, the Lakes of Killarney, MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Purple Mountain, Mangerton Mountain, the Gap of Dunloe and Torc Waterfall. Its natural heritage, history and location on the Ring of Kerry make Killarney a popular tourist destination.

Fianna Fáil emerged as the largest party on the Council after the elections gaining 2 additional seats, 1 in Listowel and 1 in the Killarney LEA. The party ended up with 9 seats, the same numbers as Fine Gael, who lost 1 seat overall, and who were also slightly behind Fianna Fáil in terms of first preference votes. Sinn Féin had an excellent election, winning 5 seats overall and 4 in North Kerry where had they run a third candidate in Tralee they would have won a third seat. Labour had a very bad election losing half of their seats and both councillors returned were elected for the Tralee LEA. Michael Gleeson of SKIA retained his seat as did both the Healy-Rae's and Independents returned 7 councillors overall, 8 including SKIA.^[1] The Listowel results were subject to a full recount in 2016.^[2]

Results by party

Party		Seats	±	First Pref. votes	FPv%	±%
	Fianna Fáil	9	+2	15,526	22.25
	Fine Gael	9	-1	15,207	21.79
	Sinn Féin	5	+3	9,899	14.19
	Labour Party	2	-2	4,597	6.59
	South Kerry Independent	1	-	2,039	3.07
	Independent	7	+4	22,009	31.54
Totals		33	+6		100%	—

Results by Electoral Area

Kerry South and West

Kerry South and West - 9 seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10
	Independent	Johnny Healy-Rae*	16.8%	3,495
	Independent	Michael Cahill*†††	11.1%	2,306
	Fianna Fáil	Michael O'Shea*	8.9%	1,846	1,942	1,978	1,993	2,044	2,278
	Independent	Dan McCarthy	7.5%	1,566	1,943	1,957	2,021	2,070	2,081
	Fianna Fáil	Norma Moriarty	7.3%	1,512	1,643	1,651	1,726	1,759	1,770	1,801	1,806	1,915	2,002
	Fine Gael	Seamus (Cosai) Fitzgerald*	6.8%	1,413	1,466	1,467	1,468	1,481	1,634	1,709	1,740	2,577
	Fianna Fáil	Breandan Fitzgerald	6.8%	1,406	1,444	1,448	1,462	1,469	1,499	1,510	1,522
	Fine Gael	P.J. Donovan*	6.3%	1,318	1,411	1,418	1,603	1,627	1,647	1,722	1,724	1,731	1,749
	Fine Gael	Patrick Connor-Scarteen*	6.2%	1,290	1,510	1,517	1,528	1,554	1,604	1,806	1,815	1,822	1,843
	Sinn Féin	Damian Quigg	5.9%	1,227	1,325	1,342	1,422	1,492	1,520	1,630	1,649	1,764	1,886
	Fianna Fáil	John Francis Flynn	4.9%	1,036	1,154	1,221	1,238	1,344	1,435	1,690	1,777	1,943	2,010
	Fine Gael	Matt Griffin*	3.4%	706	732	737	742	757
	Fine Gael	Johnny Porridge O'Connor	3.3%	692	749	780	785	910	988
	Independent	Donie O'Sullivan	2.4%	495	555	579	608
	Independent	Pádraig Garvey	3.2%	489	537	542
Electorate: 32,975 Valid: 20,797 Spoilt: 221 Quota: 2,080 Turnout: 21,018 (63.7%)

Killarney

Killarney- 8 seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	Independent	Danny Healy-Rae *††	23.9%	4,388
	South Kerry Independent	Michael Gleeson*	11.7%	2,139
	Independent	Brendan Cronin*	11.2%	2,050
	Fianna Fáil	John Joe Culloty*	9.2%	1,683	2,249
	Fine Gael	Bobby O'Connell*	6.4%	1,176	1,321	1,340	1,343	1,381	1,395	1,406	1,423	1,522	1,572	1,619
	Independent	Donal Grady	5.8%	1,064	1,236	1,250	1,264	1,308	1,371	1,435	1,539	1,586	1,725	2,006
	Fine Gael	John Sheahan*	5.2%	957	1,119	1,137	1,146	1,269	1,291	1,340	1,398	1,458	1,539	1,705
	Fianna Fáil	Niall Kelleher	4.2%	771	1,100	1,152	1,159	1,180	1,214	1,319	1,427	1,598	1,731	1,839
	Sinn Féin	John Buckley	4.0%	739	935	957	963	973	1,063	1,100	1,147	1,189	1,288	1,448
	Labour Party	Seán Counihan*	3.8%	692	805	821	835	880	920	975	1,050	1,083	1,167
	Independent	Lynda Horgan	2.9%	541	691	701	709	724	799	839	922	994
	Independent	Tom Doherty	2.5%	462	573	586	598	624	657	720
	Fianna Fáil	John O'Shea	2.5%	456	556	562	571	604	635
	Fianna Fáil	Anne McEllistrim*	2.4%	441	603	631	635	657	672	741	805
	Independent	Brian McCarthy	2.1%	383	466	472	477	488
	Fine Gael	Cathal Walshe	1.9%	356	421	432	446
Electorate: 28,741 Valid: 18,298 Spoilt: 146 Quota: 2,034 Turnout: 18,444 (64.2%)

Listowel

A full recount began of the ballots for the Listowel LEA on 10 February 2016. This followed a court case taken by Dan Kiely, who ended the original count within five votes of two elected candidates. Voters filled in the ballot for the 2014 European Parliament election simultaneously with the local election ballot, and some put preferences 1-2-3 on one ballot and 4-5-6 on the other. The returning officers' official guidelines advised to accept the latter ballots, but the Supreme Court ruled they were invalid under Article 80(2) of the Local Election Regulations 1995.^[2]^[3]^[4] When the "count afresh" began, "at least 10 ballots" were excluded based on the Supreme Court ruling.^[5] Candidates' counting agents scrutinised about 300 "doubtful" ballot papers; 32 on which they could not agree were taken under Garda Síochána escort to Limerick, where a Circuit Court judge ruled 14 of them invalid.^[6] After the eleventh and final count, in the early hours of 12 February, the same seven candidates had been returned as in 2014, with Kiely four votes behind Moloney.^[7]

Daniel "Dan" Kiely is an auctioneer and Irish former Fianna Fáil politician. He was a senator for many years and also served on Kerry County Council from the 1980s through to the 2000s.

In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.

Listowel - 7 seats - 2016 recount^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	Fianna Fáil	John Brassil *†	12.93%	1,905	1,905	1,905	1,905	1,843
	Sinn Féin	Robert Beasley*	12.62%	1,859	1,859	1,859	1,859	1,859	1,843
	Fine Gael	Aoife Thornton	10.76%	1,586	1,619	1,639	1,820	1,832	1,833	1,901	1,843
	Sinn Féin	Dianne Nolan	8.62%	1,270	1,291	1,348	1,384	1,388	1,396	1,480	1,490	1,546	1,681	1,843
	Fine Gael	Liam Purtill*	7.06%	1,040	1,056	1,095	1,111	1,113	1,113	1,135	1,142	1,329	1,413	1,573
	Fianna Fáil	Jimmy Moloney	6.82%	1,005	1,023	1,045	1,060	1,081	1,082	1,187	1,194	1,276	1,382	1,523
	Independent	Dan Kiely	6.32%	932	958	989	1,040	1,049	1,050	1,135	1,138	1,185	1,408	1,517
	Fine Gael	Mike Kennelly	5.74%	846	853	877	891	893	893	985	998	1,237	1,339	1,521
	Fine Gael	Tim Buckley*	5.65%	833	855	866	876	881	882	922	928	0
	Independent	Michael O'Gorman	5.44%	802	848	940	985	987	990	1074	1079	1128	0
	Labour Party	Pat Leahy*	5.15%	759	771	794	912	915	916	964	970	1,134	1,232	0
	Independent	Tom Walsh	4.47%	659	695	711	718	720	0
	Labour Party	Katie Lucid McCabe	3.83%	565	578	592	0
	People Before Profit	Brian Finucane	2.65%	390	426	0
	Independent	Kate Carmody	1.93%	285	0
Electorate: 24,685 (59.8%) Valid: 14,736 Spoilt: 194 Quota: 1,843 Turnout: 14,930 (60.5%)

Listowel - 7 seats - Original 2014 count
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	Fianna Fáil	John Brassil *†	12.96%	1,912
	Sinn Féin	Robert Beasley*	12.61%	1,861
	Fine Gael	Aoife Thornton	10.29%	1,518	1,619	1,639	1,822	1,836	1,837	1,904
	Sinn Féin	Dianne Nolan††††	8.61%	1,271	1,291	1,348	1,385	1,389	1,397	1,480	1,490	1,546	1,680	1,841
	Fine Gael	Liam Purtill*	7.06%	1,042	1,056	1,095	1,113	1,115	1,115	1,137	1,144	1,331	1,414	1,574
	Fianna Fáil	Jimmy Moloney	6.82%	1,006	1,023	1,045	1,061	1,084	1,085	1,191	1,198	1,281	1,388	1,529
	Independent	Dan Kiely	6.34%	935	958	989	1,043	1,053	1,054	1,139	1,142	1,189	1,414	1,524
	Fine Gael	Mike Kennelly	5.74%	847	853	877	893	895	895	987	1,000	1,239	1,341	1,526
	Fine Gael	Tim Buckley*	5.65%	833	855	866	876	880	881	921	926
	Independent	Michael O'Gorman	5.44%	802	848	940	986	988	991	1,076	1,081	1,130
	Labour Party	Pat Leahy*	5.14%	759	771	794	912	916	917	965	971	1,135	1,233
	Independent	Tom Walsh	4.47%	659	675	711	718	720	720
	Labour Party	Katie Lucid McCabe	3.84%	566	578	592
	People Before Profit	Brian Finucane	2.64%	390	426
	Independent	Kate Carmody	1.93%	285
Electorate: 24,685 (59.8%) Valid: 14,756 Spoilt: 173 Quota: 1,845 Turnout: 14,929 (60.5%)

Tralee

Tralee - 9 seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9
	Sinn Féin	Toiréasa Ferris *	16.8%	2,679
	Sinn Féin	Pa Daly	13.3%	2,122
	Fianna Fáil	Norma Foley*	9.6%	1,541	1,680
	Labour Party	Terry O'Brien*	8%	1,285	1,402	1,469	1,574	1,584	1,649
	Fine Gael	Jim Finucane*	7.8%	1,242	1,310	1,352	1,387	1,390	1,460	1,671
	Fine Gael	Pat McCarthy*	7.3%	1,160	1,247	1,262	1,283	1,294	1,331	1,436	1,468	1,564
	Fianna Fáil	Tom McEllistrim	6.8%	1,087	1,184	1,215	1,231	1,246	1,284	1,319	1,322	1,569
	Labour Party	Graham Spring	5.6%	899	970	997	1,046	1,051	1,080	1,238	1,255	1,431
	Fianna Fáil	Ted Fitzgerald	5.2%	829	886	927	946	957	996	1,047	1,056
	Independent	Sam Locke	5.1%	815	933	1,051	1,081	1,089	1,253	1,316	1,321	1,439
	Independent	Johnnie Wall	4.8%	763	871	934	973	978	1,063	1,152	1,158	1,304
	Fine Gael	Grace O'Donnell	4.1%	657	701	725	795	802	836
	Independent	Tommy Collins	3.2%	511	631	697	725	731
	Labour Party	Gillian Wharton-Slattery*	2.5%	396	450	479
Electorate: 30,300 Valid: 15,986 Spoilt: 224 Quota: 1,599 Turnout: 16,210 (53.5%)

Footnotes

Related Research Articles

County Kerry is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. Kerry County Council is the local authority for the county and Tralee serves as the county town. The population of the county was 147,707 at the 2016 census.

John Patrick Healy was an Irish Independent politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry South constituency from 1997 to 2011.

Denis O'Donovan is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann since June 2016 and a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since 2011. He previously served as Leas-Chathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from April 2011 to 2016. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South-West constituency from 2002 to 2007.

Toiréasa Ferris is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has served as a Kerry County Councillor for Tralee since August 2003.

Mary Fitzpatrick is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and former member of Dublin City Council, representing the Cabra-Glasnevin electoral area. In 2011, prior to the general election she was appointed Fianna Fáil party spokesperson on Housing and Urban Development, despite not being a member of the Oireachtas.

The Kerry Independent Alliance is a minor political party in the Republic of Ireland. It was established as the South Kerry Independent Alliance (SKIA) by former Labour Party members in the 1990s based in the Kerry South constituency. Since 1999, it has only contested local elections in the Killarney area in County Kerry, and its only candidate has been Michael Gleeson, who was a Killarney town councillor from 1991 to 2014, and has been Kerry County Councillor since 1999.

The Irish general election of 2016 took place on Friday 26 February to elect 157 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across 40 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. The 31st Dáil was dissolved by President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February, at the request of Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Tom Fleming is a former Irish independent politician. He was elected at the 2011 general election to Dáil Éireann as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Kerry South.

A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Dublin West constituency in Ireland on Thursday, 27 October 2011 following the death of the Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) and former Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan Jnr on 10 June 2011. The 2011 Irish presidential election and two constitutional referendums were held on the same day.

An election to Monaghan County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 18 councillors were elected from three electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office, a reduction of 2 seats compared to 2009. Monaghan also saw a further reduction in elected representation as Ballybay Town Council, Carrickmacross Town Council, Castleblayney Town Council, Clones Town Council and Monaghan Town Council were all abolished.

An election to Donegal County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 37 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office. In addition Ballyshannon Town Council, Bundoran Town Council and Letterkenny Town Council were all abolished.

An election to Roscommon County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 18 councillors were elected from three electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office, a reduction in 8 seats from the previous election in 2009. In addition Boyle Town Council was also abolished.

An election to Galway County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 39 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office, an increase in 9 seats from 2009. In addition Ballinasloe Town Council, Loughrea Town Council and Tuam Town Council were all abolished.

An election to Meath County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 40 councillors were elected from six electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office, an increase of 11 seats from 2009.

An election to Kildare County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 40 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office, an increase in 15 seats compared to 2009. In addition Athy Town Council, Leixlip Town Council, Naas Town Council and Newbridge Town Council were all abolished.

A Mayo County Council election was held in Ireland on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's local elections. Thirty councillors were elected for a five-year term of office from four local electoral areas by proportional representation with a single transferable vote. This represented a reduction of 1 councillor since 2009 and 1 a reduction in 2 electoral areas.

An election to Waterford City and County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 32 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office. This is a new local authority which was formed out of a merger from the abolished Waterford City Council and Waterford County Councils. In addition Dungarvan Town Council, Lismore Town Council and Tramore Town Council were also abolished.

A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Carlow–Kilkenny constituency in Ireland on Friday, 22 May 2015, to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) Phil Hogan on his appointment as European Commissioner. It was held on the same day as national referendums on marriage equality and the age of eligibility for election to the office of president. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011 stipulates that a by-election in Ireland must be held within six months of a vacancy occurring. The by-election writ was moved in the Dáil on 29 April 2015.

John Brassil is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry constituency since the 2016 general election.

References

↑ "Kerry County Council". Irish Independent. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
1 2 "Recount for 2014 Listowel local elections underway -". RTÉ.ie . 10 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
↑ Kiely -v- Kerry County Council [2015] IESC 97 Judgments & Determinations: Courts Service of Ireland. (Judgments of Justices: O'Donnell Donal, McKechnie, Clarke, Charleton.)
↑ "S.I. No. 297/1995 - Local Elections Regulations, 1995." Irish Statute Book . Article 80(2). Retrieved 10 February 2016.
↑ Brennan, Cianan (10 February 2016). "Two votes in it. 10 spoiled votes. This Kerry election recount just got interesting…". TheJournal.ie . Retrieved 12 February 2016.
↑ "32 disputed ballots in Listowel recount identified". RTÉ.ie . 10 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
↑ "Dan Kiely fails in bid to regain seat on KCC". Radio Kerry. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
↑ "Two candidates elected in Listowel recount". RTÉ.ie . 11 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
↑ Radio Kerry results, retrieved 12 February 2012: Count 2 Archived 2016-02-16 at the Wayback Machine. Count 3 Archived 2016-02-16 at the Wayback Machine. Count 4 Count 5 Count 6 Count 7 Count 8 Count 9 Count 10 Count 11

Post-Election Changes

†Listowel Fianna Fáil Councillor John Brassil was elected as a TD for Kerry at the Irish general election 2016. John Lucid was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 14 March 2016.
††Killarney Independent Councillor Danny Healy-Rae was elected as a TD for Kerry at the Irish general election 2016. His daughter, Maura, was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 14 March 2016.
†††Kerry South and West Independent Councillor Michael Cahill re-joined Fianna Fáil on 18 July 2016.[http://www.killarneytoday.com/cahill-to-rejoin-fianna-fail/
††††Listowel Sinn Féin Councillor Dianne Nolan resigned her seat in 2017 to take up a new job. Tom Barry was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 23 October 2017.

External links

Official website

Preceded by Kerry County Council election, 2009	Kerry County County Council elections	Succeeded by Kerry County Council election, 2019

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Kerry County Council". Irish Independent. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.

[rte766791-2] 1 2 "Recount for 2014 Listowel local elections underway -". RTÉ.ie . 10 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.

[3] Kiely -v- Kerry County Council [2015] IESC 97 Judgments & Determinations: Courts Service of Ireland. (Judgments of Justices: O'Donnell Donal, McKechnie, Clarke, Charleton.)

[4] "S.I. No. 297/1995 - Local Elections Regulations, 1995." Irish Statute Book . Article 80(2). Retrieved 10 February 2016.

[5] Brennan, Cianan (10 February 2016). "Two votes in it. 10 spoiled votes. This Kerry election recount just got interesting…". TheJournal.ie . Retrieved 12 February 2016.

[6] "32 disputed ballots in Listowel recount identified". RTÉ.ie . 10 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

[radiokerry20160212-7] "Dan Kiely fails in bid to regain seat on KCC". Radio Kerry. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

[rte767150-8] "Two candidates elected in Listowel recount". RTÉ.ie . 11 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

[9] Radio Kerry results, retrieved 12 February 2012: Count 2 Archived 2016-02-16 at the Wayback Machine. Count 3 Archived 2016-02-16 at the Wayback Machine. Count 4 Count 5 Count 6 Count 7 Count 8 Count 9 Count 10 Count 11