40 seats filled in Tipp and some new faces on Council

The 40 seats on Tipperary County Council have been filled and Independents came out on top, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil strong - but there has been a drop in support for Sinn Féin, while Labour are up, taking a hattrick of seats in the new Tipperary County Council.

Sinn Féin lost  a seat, seeing a fall from three to two seats, but Labour saw an excellent result, trebling their seats from one to three, while the number of women elected to the council increased from seven to 12. 

14 Independents, five of whom are members of the Lowry Team, were elected - an increase  of one since 2019. Speaking after the result, Deputy Michael Lowry said their 'Drive for Five' campaign yielded the results they hoped for.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both won ten seats each and the Clonmel based Workers Unemployed Action Group (WUAG) held their seat in Cllr. Pat English. No Social Democrats, Aontú or Green Party candidates were elected in Tipperary.

Labour's Fiona Bonfield, a cousin of  former Labour leader and Tipperary TD Alan Kelly, topped the poll in Newport and her colleagues, first-time candidate Michael ‘Chicken’ Brennan was elected in Carrick-on-Suir and Louise Morgan Walsh was successful in Nenagh.

Kilbarron native, Independent sitting councillor, Joe Hannigan, topped the poll in Nenagh and was elected for the third time on the first count with Lowry Team member, Michael O'Meara, who now begins his fourth term.

Cllr Seamus Morris also returns for a fourth term and was elected  on the fourth count, while first time candidate in Nenagh, Ryan O’Meara was elected on the third count and  is a member of Fianna Fáil and now the youngest member of Nenagh councillors at 28-years-old.

Labour's  Louise Morgan Walsh, who was just edged out by Cllr Hughie McGrath in the final two counts in 2019,  took a seat and is the only woman on the council in the Nenagh LEA.

The most significant unexpected result was the collapse of Fine Gael’s vote in Cashel-Tipperary. First-time candidate Matthew Fogarty stood instead of Michael Fitzgerald, the 2019 poll-topper and one of the longest-serving councillors in Ireland before his retirement at the end of the outgoing council’s term. 

Mr Fogarty polled just 340 votes and the seat went to another first-time candidate, Independent John O’Heney, who topped the poll and was elected on the first count.