Cooption leaves Bundoran with no Councillor for the first time in 50 years



The Bundoran area is without a Councillor for the first time in 50 years.

It follows the co-option of Laghey’s Micheal Naughton onto the seat of the late Councillor Sean McEniff at convention last night.

Claire Mulcahy reports:

Full report:

Convention Chairperson, Clare TD Timmy Dooley deeming Micheal Naughton from Laghey elected to the coopted seat left vacant following the death of Ireland’s longest serving Councillor Sean McEniff in April.

215 members of the Fianna Fail party in the Donegal electoral area were eligible to vote at the convention which took place in the Millpark Hotel in Donegal town last night with 198 of them turning up to vote.

Many more people arrived to hear the result of the count with around 300 people there.

The electoral area of Donegal is vast covering from Glencolmcille right down to Bundoran and last night’s result means for the first time in more than half a century Bundoran has no local Councillor.

The count for the coopted seat like local and general elections follows the Proportional Representational system and as always transfers were key.

After the first count, Elizabeth McIntyre, Sean McEniff’s daughter topped the poll on 66 votes, 6 ahead of Dunkineely’s Roger Meehan, and 13 ahead of Micheal Naughton.

However, when Billy Grimes a former Ballyshannon Town Councillor was eliminated after that count, his 19 votes brought Ms. McIntyrre to 73 but left just one vote between Roger Meehan now on 62 and Micheal Naughton now with just one more on 63 votes.

Meehan’s elimination favoured Naughton bringing him to a final tally of 104, 13 ahead of Elizabeth McIntyre.

In her speech, Elizabeth McIntyre said she was disappointed but said nevertheless it was the party that mattered and indicated that she has no intention of being a stranger to politics in future:

Newly elected Councillor Micheal Naughten gave his reaction to Ocean FM:



Related