Independent candidates won the largest number of seats on South Dublin County Council, taking 10 of the 40 seats, with former mixed martial arts fighter Paddy Holohan securing election in two wards.

Mr Holohan, previously a Sinn Féin representative, topped the poll in Tallaght South and was also elected in Tallaght Central.

Fine Gael emerged as the biggest party on the council with nine seats, followed by Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin (both on five), People Before Profit (four), Labour (three) and the Social Democrats (two). Glen Moore of the Irish Freedom Party was elected for Palmerstown-Fonthill while Linda De Courcy was elected for Independent Ireland in Clondalkin.

It was a bad day for The Green Party, which lost all four of its seats on the local authority.

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Fine Gael will be relatively pleased with its performance, gaining an extra two seats on its 2019 showing. Baby Pereppadan was reelected for the party in Tallaght South while his son Britto (24) won a seat for the first time in Tallaght Central.

Mr Pereppadan said it was a “special occasion” for his family while Britto, a junior doctor in Tallaght Hospital, noted that Fine Gael had not taken a seat in Tallaght Central for the last 20 years. He said some of his posters were taken down and there was the “odd racist comment” on the campaign trail.

“But you’re seeing 200 people a day at the doors. I would say generally it’s been the minority,” he said.

Sinn Féin will be disappointed with its result here, with one fewer councillor elected than five years ago despite the party fielding a whopping 21 candidates across the seven electoral areas. Willie Carey, who took the second seat in Clondalkin, said his party “didn’t achieve the growth we had expected”.

“Clearly we put out too many candidates and that diluted our draw in the community. It confused some people as candidates were running in particular areas,” he said. “We have to have an honest assessment of what happened and we need to look at that in the cold light of day ... I think our strategy was wrong.”

Fianna Fáil will also be downbeat after losing three seats, though there were strong performances from Emma Murphy and Teresa Costello, who were elected on the first count of their respective electoral areas of Firhouse-Bohernabreena and Tallaght Central.

People Before Profit will be pleased with its showing, with Jess Spear, partner of TD Paul Murphy, elected for the first time in Tallaght Central, Kay Keane taking a seat in Tallaght South and Darragh Adelaide successful in Clondalkin.

Clondalkin: 7 seats

Firhouse – Bohernabreena: 5 seats

Lucan: 5 seats

Palmerstown – Fonthill: 5 seats

Rathfarnham – Templeogue: 7 seats

Tallaght Central: 6 seats

Tallaght South: 5 seats

[ View 2019 South Dublin County Council results ]

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