High number of spoiled votes in Longford and low Humphreys support a 'disappointment'

The number of spoiled votes in county Longford and the lack of support for Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys despite the funding the county received while she was a Cabinet minister, are disappointments for the party.

That is the view of Longford TD Micheál Carrigy, who also stated other parties who did not put forward their own candidates, were equally as responsible for leaving some voters with a limited choice on the ballot papers.

The narrow field of just two in the race for the Áras was one reason highlighted as a factor for a record number of 2,039 votes (15%) of the total tally of 13,875 being spoiled by the county Longford electorate.

Deputy Carrigy suggested Fine Gael were still being unfairly criticised for Simon Harris' instruction last month banning Fine Gael councillors from helping any Independent candidates get on the presidential election ticket.

"There were plenty of other parties saying that we were blocking the democratic process.

"But we were essentially just supporting our own candidate.

"They had an opportunity to put forward their own candidate and they didn't."

President of Ireland-elect Catherine Connolly received over 58% of first preference votes in county Longford as she proved significantly more popular with the electorate in the area than Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys.

That comprehensive win in this county was slightly lower than the 63% support the Galway Independent candidate enjoyed nationally, but it was still a resounding victory.

Ms Humphreys served as Minister for Rural and Community Development and Minister for Social Protection between 2020 and 2024.

In October of last year, Ms Humphreys announced her decision to retire from politics, and she did not contest the 2024 general election.

Deputy Carrigy said he had higher expectations for her to receive more support in county Longford .

"The big disappointment is the significant number of spoiled votes, I think 15% of the total votes cast were spoiled.

"I would have hoped for a higher vote, particularly in county Longford where there was significant support from the department that she had served in over the last five years.

"We got a significant amount of funding into projects.

"And in previous local elections, the Granard district actually delivered the highest percentage for a Gael vote in the last two local elections as a local election area."

Asked if the TV debates, where Catherine Connolly excelled, were pivotal moments, Deputy Carrigy agreed she was impressive.

"She was quite strong in the TV debates and I think the fact that there were just the two candidates in the debate [was a factor].

"But, to be honest, all media across the radio and television, in the debates, never actually gave an opportunity for either candidate to set out what their vision was for the presidency."

A breakdown of the county Longford showed Ms Connolly, who was elected after the first count, received a total of 20,892 votes compared to Humphreys total tally of 12,485 (34.6%) and the 2,594 votes collected by Fianna Fáil's Jim Gavin (7.2%), who dropped out of the race.

Ms Connolly received a higher vote in all of the county Longford areas.

In Ballymahon, Ms Connolly received 2,377 first preference votes -more than 1,000 more votes compared to 1,347 for Humphries while Mr Gavin collected 313.

In Granard, where there is usually strong Fine Gael backing, the margin was much tighter with the Ms Connolly winning by 1,948 votes to Ms Humphries' 1,816 and the former Dublin Gaelic football manager getting just 292 votes.

Elsewhere, in Longford, the margin was wider with Ms Connolly receiving 2,068 votes compared to 1,400 votes gathered by Ms Humphries.

The turnout in Longford town is traditionally low in Longford town and this was the case once more with just 28% of people voting, while the figure was 34% in Ballymahon and 38.2% in Granard.

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