'So much for the slogan we need change’ - Longford people stick with tried and trusted

Long serving Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus Butler was one of the success stories of this Local Election in the county.

He polled a whopping 1,041 first preferences and got elected on the first count.

That marked an increase of almost 400 from his vote in 2019.

In some ways, this vote for one of the longest serving councillors in Co. Longford summed up the mood of voters in the county.

There was certainly no appetite for change in this election. Change was something that cropped up as a manifesto of a number of candidates who either ran as independents or for the smaller parties.

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However, people just didn’t buy the message they were selling.

“So much for the slogan ‘we need change’,” Cllr Butler said, tongue in cheek.

“In troubled times, people prefer experience,” he added.

Also elected on the first count in Longford LEA was another long serving councillor, Peggy Nolan.

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She polled 890 first preferences. That was an increase of 150 in her vote from the last election.

No less than six candidates in the Longford LEA polled less than 100 votes.

Sinn Fein’s James Donnelly polled 401 first preferences. Another 100 votes might have left him seriously in the running for the final seat. However, the fragmentation of the independent or anti-government vote went against him.

In other districts, few independent candidates made any impression, with Niall Dowler in Ballymahon, who polled 425 first preferences, an exception.

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While Turlough McGovern’s huge vote from 2019 held up well, the other sitting independent in the county, Mark Casey, saw his vote drop by over 300.

“I am extremely pleased with the vote Fianna Fail got in the Longford district, particularly as leader of the Fianna Fail grouping in Longford County Council for the past 10 years,” Seamus Butler stated.

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“As a party, we managed the vote very well. I am confident that we will get Remu (Uruemu Adejinmi) elected as our fourth councillor,” he added.

With Fine Gael taking three seats, the Longford LEA will have a stable look about it for the next council term.

New faces are Niall Gannon (FG) and Kevin Hussey (FF).