It was a good weekend for Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independent candidates in the election to Cork County Council, one of the largest local authorities in the State.

Independent Ireland made its presence felt, too, with the first-time party claiming four of the 55 seats. The fledgling grouping picked up seats in Cobh, Bandon-Kinsale, Bantry-West Cork and Skibbereen-West Cork, surpassing the performance of some of the longer-established parties.

Fianna Fáil emerged as the biggest party with 19 seats, just one ahead of Fine Gael. Sinn Féin continues to struggle in county areas, claiming just a single seat through Eoghan Fahy in Carrigaline.

The Green Party remain shut out here, failing to claim a single seat despite running 10 candidates. There was disappointment for Aontú and People Before Profit-Solidarity, with both failing to have a councillor elected.

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There were moderate gains for Labour, which saw its first preference vote increase by 0.5 per cent on 2019′s total, while the Holly Cairns factor appears to have led to a boost for the Social Democrats, with the party picking up three seats.

The council will feature some new faces, but many of the incumbents were returned safely.

In Cobh, for instance, four of the six seats went to sitting candidates, with a late-in-the-day recount for the final seat between two first-time candidates the most dramatic development. Sinead Sheppard (FG), once a member of pop group Six, joined Sheila O’Callaghan (FF), a sister of MEP Billy Kelleher who was co-opted on to the council in 2019, in getting over the line in the early hours of the count.

There were similar outcomes in parts of West Cork, Mallow, Midleton and Kanturk, while Macroom saw the same slate of six councillors elected as in 2019. Transfers between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael helped many of the Government candidates across the line throughout the county.

In Fermoy, anti-immigration campaigner Derek Blighe failed to claim a seat, with locals backing Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independent candidates ahead of the Ireland First representative.

In Carrigaline, Seamus McGrath (FF), brother of Minister for Finance Michael McGrath, pulled in the largest first preference vote in the State, smashing the 5,000 mark and easily passing the quota, while helping his party colleague Audrey Buckley over the line, too.

In 2019, the standout story here was the election of then-unknown Social Democrat Holly Cairns, who pipped Independent candidate Finbarr Harrington by a single vote to claim the last seat. This time around, Mr Harrington fared better, being elected in Bantry-West Cork on the seventh count.

Bandon – Kinsale: 6 seats

Bantry – West Cork: 4 seats

Carrigaline: 6 seats

Cobh: 6 seats

Fermoy: 6 seats

Kanturk: 4 seats

Macroom: 6 seats

Mallow: 5 seats

Midleton: 7 seats

Skibbereen – West Cork: 5 seats

[ View 2019 Cork County Council results ]

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