Killarney has spoken and the Magnificent Seven return

A western movie scriptwriter would probably bill it as a sequel to The Return of the Magnificent Seven and, later this month, it will be all guns blazing when they ride back into town to pick up where they let off in the municipal saloon.

As predicted by KillarneyToday.com prior to the election, all the outgoing councillors were comfortably returned and, from the very outset at the count centre in Killarney Sport and Leisure Centre, it was crystal clear that there was going to be no upset on the cards.

It wasn’t the electorate didn’t have any real choice – seventeen candidates was the biggest field in living memory – ­­but Killarney proved its loyalty to the battle-hardened councillors that have been there, done that and worn the town crest t-shirts.

The only real challenge of any form came from Fine Gael’s Dermot Healy, in his debut election, but, realistically, his 653 first preference share was never going to be enough to trouble the two candidates immediately ahead of him who both had a significant advantage of around 400 votes from the outset.

Truth is the result from the marathon 17-hour count could have been declared from the outset as it was clear from the tally figures alone that Killarney was staying as it was.

And what an election it was for Maura Healy-Rae who will surely have one eye on Dáil Éireann after a totally dominant showing in the Killarney Municipal District.

Given the high number of candidates, she had anticipated that the massive 3,099 votes she secured in 2019 would have fallen somewhat but, in fact, the opposite occurred and she increased her first preference share by close on 300 votes to ensure a triumphant and emphatic first count return.

And what of the performance of Martin Grady, contesting his first election after being co-opted to the seat vacated by his long-serving father, Donal, in June of last year.

Quite incredibly, he actually increased his father’s 2019 vote by over 700 and breached the 2,000 mark to ensure a first count victory which proved, beyond doubt, that the policies he pursues are deemed important by the local people.

John O’Donoghue of the Kerry Independent Alliance was another first-time election candidate – having been co-opted to his uncle Michael Gleeson’s seat – and he acquitted himself with considerable aplomb with an impressive 1,574 first count showing.

It was in the region of 400 votes shy of his uncle’s 2019 performance but it was more than sufficient to see the primary schoolteacher through in the second count.

Although his first preference showing was marginally down – by about 80 votes or so on his last election – Independent Brendan Cronin also produced a strong showing with 1,423 votes to get him back to the debating chambers while outgoing Mayor of Killarney, Fianna Fail’s Niall Kelleher’s first preference vote increased by 60 or so and that earned him the fifth seat.

Independent Niall O’Callaghan, despite not knocking on a door and relying on a virtual canvass, made it back without reaching the quota as did Labour’s Marie Moloney who showed true battling qualities by increasing her first preference vote by almost 200 despite her seat being openly and deliberately targeted by a number of unsuccessful candidates.

Fine Gael’s Dermot Healy will have been disappointed with his share of the vote which again raises questions about the structure of the party organisation in the Killarney area. The once well-oiled FG machine in Killarney is obviously badly in need of a service.

Healy had solid backing from a large section of the business community and good support through his involvement in motorsport but the traditional party vote went AWOL and his first preference share was never going to be sufficient.

He still managed to poll significantly more than the two Sinn Fein candidates combined proving, yet again, that there is no sufficient support in Killarney for SF to make the breakthrough.

Despite an extensive advertising campaign and maximising his links with social media sites in the days leading up to polling day, Switzer could muster no more than 339 first preferences while Kenneally was further adrift at 248 and their combined vote was just 100 or so ahead of the two Bangladeshi candidates Iqbal Mahmud and Kamaruzaman Abdul Kadir.

It was a poor election also for the Green Party candidate Diarmaid Griffin who would have been hoping for far greater support in a town that is precious about protecting its natural environment while, despite rampant rumours, fuelled by some candidates to suit their own agendas, the Ukrainian vote never materialised and Natalia Krasnenkova returned just 146 votes.

The overall scenario is that it was, once again, Independence Day in Killarney with four of the seven successful candidates running as non-party with Fianna Fail, Labour and the Kerry Independent Alliance taking the other three seats.

All thoughts will now turn to the key position of Mayor of Killarney and whether the pact that existed in the outgoing council holds for another five-year term remains to be seen.

The previous agreement was reached between Marie Moloney (Lab), Brendan Cronin (Ind) Niall Kelleher (FF) and Michael Gleeson (KIA) whose nephew, John O’Donoghue, is now carrying the party flag.

If that cosy little arrangement is reignited it would deprive the two biggest vote winners in the municipal district, Maura Healy-Rae and Marin Grady, of holding the chain of office but, for now, that is a matter for another day and, remember, a weeks is a long time in politics so anything could happen prior to the first meeting of the new council.

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