Longford Local Elections 2024: Intense battle expected for final seats in Longford Municipal District

The people will have their say this Friday, June 7 in the Local Elections. By the end of the weekend, the make-up of the new county council should be clear.

The race for council seats will undoubtedly be most intense in the Longford Municipal District.

There are seven seats available and only four of the councillors elected in the 2019 election - Fine Gael’s Peggy Nolan (who was the only female elected and secured 741 first preferences) and Gerry Hagan (co-opted in 2018 and seeking a second electoral success) & Fianna Fáil’s Seamus Butler (who received 699 and 656 first preference votes in 2014 & ‘19, respectively) and Martin Monaghan (who was elected for the first time five years ago with 576 1st preference votes) - are running this time and this quartet are very likely to retain their seats.

Joe Flaherty (FF) topped the poll last time with 1,053 first preferences smashing the 838 quota but a year later, he was elected to the Dail.

Uruemu Adejinmi was co-opted to take his seat. This will be her second election. She also contested the 2019 election where she received 248 first preferences and she’ll be hoping to improve considerably on this as she strives to retain her seat.

Two outgoing councillors have opted to retire from the council, John Browne (FG) and Gerry Warnock (Ind).

Also read: Longford Local Election 2024: Council issue statement on Register of Electors

Cllr Warnock has indicated that he intends to run in the next General Election.

One of the biggest questions is where his 659 first preferences from 2019 will end up. Cllr Browne, who in 2014 was the poll topper in Longford MD, polled 692 votes five years ago and new FG candidate Niall Gannon is tipped to take many of those votes on this occasion.

The voting could be much more fragmented in this election, particularly with many Independents in the field.

A major development politically in Longford since the 2019 elections was the election of a Sinn Féin TD in Longford-Westmeath, Sorca Clarke.

Ms Clarke polled 3,500 first preferences in county Longford. Will that substantial vote hold up to enable at least one SF candidate to be elected?

Also read: Opening and closing times for polling stations ahead of Local Elections in Longford

James Donnelly is the candidate for the party in the Longford district. Deeply involved in Longford Town FC, he has grown his profile in recent months.

However, the party’s candidate in the 2019 election, Tena Keown, fell short of a seat with 356 votes. Nationally, SF has seen a dip in support in some recent polls and that must be a slight concern.

Nonetheless Donnelly has to be regarded as a contender for one of the last seats.

Last time, former TD Mae Sexton polled 474 votes. Coupled with Gerry Warnock’s votes, that’s over 1,000 independent voters that all of the parties will be eyeing up.

Will all of the sitting councillors retain their seats? They can all point to the work they have done in the past five years, but a strong showing from an outlier could result in one of them losing out.

REVEALED: Full list of candidates who will contest Longford Local Elections 2024!

Into this category, Mujahid Manzoor fits. He is not a name that is perhaps well known generally, but the Independent candidate, a Pakistani native, has lived in Longford for 25 years.

Many nationalities now live in the district and he could attract a significant vote.

The Greens have yet to elect a councillor in Longford (there are two in county Westmeath) and Catherine Joseph is their candidate in this district.

The independents running represent a wide shade of political views. However, one of them is a daughter of a former councillor, Tony Carberry.

Alicia carries the well known Longford town name and while she is new to elections, a young female could challenge the political orthodoxy.

Other candidates to keep an eye on in a very congested field could be Kevin Hussey (FF), Sadia Athar (Ind) and Maura Greene-Casey (Ind).

Candidates - 18
(7 seats; * denotes outgoing councillor)
* Uruemu Adejinmi, Fianna Fáil
Sadia Athar, Non Party
* Seamus Butler, Fianna Fáil
Alicia Carberry, Non Party
James Donnelly, Sinn Fein
Niall Gannon, Fine Gael
Maura Greene-Casey, Non Party
* Gerry Hagan, Fine Gael
Kevin Hussey, Fianna Fáil
Catherine Joseph, Green Party
Mujahid Manzoor, Non Party
Gareth McKendry, The Irish People
* Martin Monaghan, Fianna Fáil
* Peggy Nolan, Fine Gael
James Quinn, Non Party
Tony Reilly, Non Party
Dwain Schouten, Non Party
Dave Smyth, People Before Profit