Established order restored after Fianna Fáil keep vacated seat in South Kilkenny

The big talking point in the Piltown Local Electoral Area was always going to be around who would claim the seat vacated by Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Aylward.

It was his party colleague, Jenny Catt Slattery, who won the battle for the seat on the ninth count, seeing off an immense challenge from Sinn Féin’s Natasha Newsome Drennan.

The outcome will come as a disappointment to Sinn Féin, who historically have had strong showings in the area, the most recent being Melissa O’Neill when she stood for the party back in 2014.

Just like the previous local election in the Piltown LEA, Pat Dunphy (FF) topped the poll with Tomás Breathnach (LAB) coming in second.

Both candidates surpassed the quota of 1,423 on the first count.

The remaining three seats were filled in the final count, following the elimination of other contenders with fewer votes, as no other candidates reached the quota outright.

All four sitting councillors retained their seats, with Fidelis Doherty (FG) and Ger Frisby (FF) also extending their continually elected run.

As a first time candidate, The Irish People Party’s Richard Daly did respectably well with 368 first preference votes after the first count.

This placed him ahead of Fine Gael’s Damien Donoghue (358), Social Democrat David Kane (226) and Green Party candidate Benny McDonagh (116).

The Irish People Party proved to be not as transfer friendly as the other parties in the Piltown LEA however.

This saw Richard Daly (TIP) eliminated after the fifth count, whilst Damien Donoghue (FG) lasted for one count more.

The elimination of Sinn Féin candidate Michael Wemyss after the seventh count left everything to play for, with much anticipation around where his transfers would go.

If Wemyss (SF) had transferred a very high number of votes to Newsome Drennan (SF), there was a chance that Newsome Drennan could’ve leapfrogged both remaining Fianna Fáil women and taken the final seat.

As it turned out, there were indeed a lot of transfers from Wemyss to Newsome Drennan (SF), but not enough to claim the last seat.

The subsequent elimination of Maria Wall (FF) and her ensuing transfers helped to ensure the election of her party colleague Jenny Catt Slattery (FF).

It was the first time since the Local Elections in 2004 that the Green Party had a candidate in the Piltown LEA.

Back then, Green Party candidate John Fitzgerald finished bottom of the poll with 297 first preference votes.

This year, unfortunately for the Green Party, Benny McDonagh finished in the same position, securing just 116 first preference votes.

David Kane was the first ever Social Democrat to run in Piltown LEA in the Local Elections when he decided to run this year.

He received 226 first preference votes after the first count, meaning he was never going to be in the running for a seat.

Despite this, both the Green Party and the Social Democrats will be happy to have left a mark on the campaign trail in Piltown LEA during this election campaign, possibly laying the groundwork for future endeavours.

Labour candidate Tomás Breathnach, who was elected on the first count, has further cemented his party’s influence in Piltown LEA.

Coming into this campaign, he had been sitting in the Piltown LEA continuously since 2004.

Even before that, he was just beaten to a seat back in the Local Election in 1999.

Fine Gael’s Pat Dunphy has repeated the feat he achieved in the last Local Election by topping the poll.

Back then, he secured 1,579 first preference votes out of a total electorate of 16,125.

Taking into account polling numbers that year (8,057), that represented an overall share of 19.6% first preference votes.

This time around, he secured 1,874 first preference votes out of a total electorate of 17,132.

Taking into account polling numbers this year (8,534), this represents an overall share of 21.96% first preference votes.

This is an impressive feat when one considers that the other three re-elected councillors have seen a slight drop in their overall share of first preference votes when comparing 2019 and 2024 figures.

This could easily be influenced by the fact that there are two additional candidates this year compared to 2019, but it makes Dunphy’s achievement even more impressive.

Overall, the story in Piltown LEA follows the story of the election on a national level, the electorate have retained their trust in the status quo.

Although there is one new councillor this year, the party composition is exactly as it was back in 2019.