The town of Tullamore looks likely to be controlled by a broad coalition of councillors from the left for the first time in its history, it emerged last night. The Labour Senator Pat Gallagher's performance in both the urban and council elections has changed the face of politics in the town. In the urban election, he topped the poll with a quota and three-quarters and was elected with three other Labour men, Joe Feighrey, Lar Byrne and Sean O'Brien.
In addition, the town returned its first Sinn Fein urban councillor, Mr Joe Coughlan. The growth of the town since the last election was reflected in the fact that there were 1,000 new voters on the register.
