THE Healy-Rae juggernaut is at full throttle and the Kilgarvan dynasty has given a real declaration of intent in advance of the next general election.
Danny Healy-Rae has soared to the top of the poll in the Killarney Electoral Area in the most emphatic fashion and is poised to score one of the biggest local elections victories in living memory with an astonishing show of political strength.
While his son, Johnny, is hoovering up more first preferences than he had dared to hope for, in the neighbouring Kerry South/West constituency, Danny looks on course to have more than two quotas at the close of the official first count which is underway at a packed Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre.
As soon as the boxes opened this morning it was clear that Healy-Rae held Killarney in the palm of his giant hand with thousands of number ones etched beside his name as the ballot papers came tumbling out.
With the quota estimated to be close to 2,030, Healy-Rae’s tally has him at an incredible 4,379 which would have been sufficient for him to bring in a running-mate if he had chosen to go down that particular route.
It is a timely fillip for Danny’s father and the Healy-Rae political mastermind, Jackie, who is currently in Kerry General Hospital recovering from an illness which did not prevent him from securing day release to cast his vote on Friday.
It was a great performance, overall, by the independents as the South Kerry Independent Alliance’s Michael Gleeson, with a tally of 2,140, and Brendan Cronin, on an estimated 2,059, also polled exceptionally well and they should both get past the post in the first count.
Both are now well-established political heavyweights and they will emerge from this election with the wind at their backs and, possibly, one eye trained on a higher platform.
There was a strong performance also by Fianna Fail’s John Joe Culloty who registered a tally of 1,657 in his first ever election which was quite an achievement but hardly a surprise given the high-profile nature of his campaign and the effort he has made since being co-opted to the local authority in place of Deputy Tom Fleming.
Another independent, Donal Grady, polled very similarly to his 2009 performance with 1,053 first preferences and, with favourable transfers, he could well take a seat.
After what initially seemed like a shaky start, Bobby O’Connell soon became the Fine Gael frontrunner – he rallied well when the Castleisland boxes were opened – and his tally personnel have him at 1,182 first preferences with his running-mate John Sheahan also doing well on 957.
Fianna Fail first-timer Niall Kelleher polled impressively and is in close pursuit of the FG duo on a tally of 809 which is a really good showing in his debut election.
John Buckley, also contesting his first election, registered 727 in the tally for Sinn Fein, closely followed by outgoing councillor Sean Counihan of Labour on 701.
Tom Fleming’s constituency secretary, Lynda Horgan, an independent candidate, is on 531 according to the tally with Fianna Fail’s John O’Shea on 465, independents Tom Doherty and Brian McCarthy on 449 and 375 respectively and veteran Killarney campaigner Cathal Walshe of Fine Gael on a tally of 356.
* John O’Mahony reporting, as it happens, from the Kerry local elections count centre in Killarney
* Election count centre photographs from John Reidy of the Maine Valley Post. Click to enlarge
