Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will be expected to establish control of the new County Council in Leitrim.
Fianna Fail will have 6 Councillors on the new local authority, Fine Gael will have four, there are also four independents while Sinn Fein have lost half of their seats from 2014 and will have just two Councillors on the new Council.
There is a very familiar look to the Manorhamilton Municipal District of Leitrim County Council with all six sitting county councillors being returned for another five years.
Early indications were always suggesting that it was unlikely that there would be any change to the establishment.
Fianna Fáil’s Mary Bohan and Justin Warnock were elected on the first count along with the stand alone Sinn Fein Candidate Councillor Padraig Fallon.
Fine Gael’s Frank Dolan was elected on the next Count and was quickly followed by Independent Candidate Felim Gurn While Sean Mc Dermott Fine Gael was always in a safe position to take the final seat despite all three new candidates Jamie Murphy Independent, Blaithin Gallagher The green Party and a third fine Gale runner John Joe Dowidan all taking positives from their respective campaigns.
The Ballinamore electorate which covers including Ballinaglera and Drumshanbo area produced drama a plenty over the weekend and a full recount required yesterday.
At the end of proceedings, three Drumshanbo based candidates were elected with sitting Councillor Brendan Barry retaining his seat, Fine Gael’s Enda Mc Gloin regained a seat he lost in 2014.
Mc Gloin who is a party administrator will hope to combine the roles of a councillor and his administration position within the Party
Meanwhile Independent Councillor Gerry Dolan gave another master class in how to be transfer friendly when he was successful in securing the final seat after seeing off the challenge of Sinn Fein’s Pat Gilhooly by five votes.
Dolan says his success was down to an extensive canvass of the entire electoral area.
The local elections in Leitrim will be a cause of concern for Sinn Fein Carloline Mulvey who was co-opted to replace Martin Kenny in the Ballinamore electoral are which returned Paddy O Rourke and Cillian Ellis for Fianna Fail, and Ita Reynolds Flynn who is a sister of the former TD and General election candidate Gerry Reynolds.
Sinn Fein also surrendered a seat in the Carrick-on-Shannon electoral area when Sedhna Logan failed to hold on to the seat he won in 2014 his fellow Mohill Town man Thomas from Fine Gael was successful and returns to the Council.
Long serving Councillors Sean McGowan Fianna Fáil and Enda Stenson Independent were retuned in as expected along with Carrick-on-Shannon based councillor Finola Armstrong McGuire.
Independent Councillor Des Guckian also put In a strong performance to hold on to his seat while the sixth and final seat in the Carrick-on-Shannon electorate area was secured by first time candidate Paddy Farrell who narrowly defeated his Fianna Fáil running mate Fintan Cox.
