Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
Veteran campaigner Michael Cahill can now replace the title of Councillor with Deputy before his name.
He has been elected at the general election count centre in Killarney, alongside his Fianna Fáil party colleague Norma Foley, shortly after 10 o’clock this Sunday night.
A councillor for 34 years, Cahill’s supporters were adamant that this would be his moment in the spotlight and he produced great performance to win the fifth and final seat, still well over 2,000 votes short of the quota, in the 13th count.
Cahill, from Rossbeigh, was just over 700 votes clear of the only other candidate in contention, Fine Gael’s Billy O’Shea from Killorglin and there were scenes of great celebrations at the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre.
“It was now or never,” he declared afterwards.
Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
What it meant effectively was that Fianna Fáil made a seat gain in Kerry at the expense of Fine Gael who failed to retain the seat vacated by Brendan Griffin.
Given that a big transfer from the other Fianna Fáil candidate, Linda Gordon Kelleher, helped to propel Cahill into a commanding lead, Fine Gael will reflect on their controversial and ultimately costly decision to run just one candidate, much to the annoyance of local councillors.
Norma Foley, meanwhile, returned to Dáil Éireann in comfortable fashion, increasing her personal vote on 2020 and favourable transfers from Gordon Kelleher and, later, Green Party candidate Cleo Murphy, saw her exceed the quota in the 13th and final count.
The five Kerry seats have now been filled and Kerry’s representatives in the 34th Dáil will be Michael Healy-Rae (Ind), Pa Daly (SF), Danny Healy-Rae (Ind), Norma Foley (FF) and Michael Cahill (FF).
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