Longford #LE24: Sixth Count to decide destination of final two Granard seats as Fianna Fáil's Susan Murphy exits race
The sixth count will decide the destination of the last two Granard Municipal District seats as Fianna Fáil's Susan Murphy exited the race after the Fifth Count.
Her 613 votes will now be distributed.
Her party colleague David Cassidy, on 717 votes, will be hoping a huge portion of her transfers come his way to give him any chance of taking a seat at the expense of Fine Gael duo Colin Dalton and Padraig McNamara who are sitting on 972 and 1,035 votes, respectively.
McNamara is just 150 votes shy of the 1,185 quota.
The odds appear to be stacked against Cassidy as he fights to cling on to FF's only seat in the north of the county and attempt to overtake Dalton or McNamara. Outgoing FF councillor PJ Reilly didn't seek reelection on this occasion.
Garry Murtagh (FG), Turlough McGovern (Ind) and Paraic Brady (FG) were all elected following the First Count after the trio emphatically exceeded the quota.
FIFTH COUNT
(Distribution of M Smith 336 votes)
David Cassidy, Fianna Fáil +56 = 717
Colin Dalton, Fine Gael +19 = 972
Padraig McNamara, Fine Gael +154 = 1,035
Susan Murphy, Fianna Fáil +61 = 613
Eliminated: Susan Murphy