There will be six new councillors at the next meeting of Galway City Council after 52 candidates were whittled down to fill 18 seats spread across three electoral areas.

Four councillors – Green Party members Martina O’Connor and Niall Murphy and former mayors Michael Crowe (FF) and Noel Larkin (Ind) – lost their seats this time out.

There was a shift across all the parties and among the Independents with Labour increasing its seats from one to three, Fine Gael going from three to four and Fianna Fáil going from five to four. Sinn Féin, which lost all three seats in the 2019 election, managed to claw back one with Aisling Burke elected in Galway City East. Four Independents were elected, a drop of two.

It was a dismal weekend for the Green Party with Ms O’Connor, who just edged out Labour’s John McDonagh in 2019, losing out in Galway City Central, while Mr Murphy finished seventh in the six-seat Galway City West.

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He suffered badly when Alan Curran, co-opted to the east area during the term of the last council, opted to stand in the west where he lives. That meant seven outgoing councillors were battling for six seats and Murphy lost out with the party’s vote down 4.5 per cent in comparison to 2019.

The Social Democrats were beneficiaries with Mr Curran holding on to his seat while first-time Eibhlín Seoighte polled well in Galway City Central and was elected.

Mr Curran’s switch to Galway City West is the only change in that area where Donal Lyons (Ind) again topped the poll with Clodagh Higgins (FG), John Connolly (FF) and Labour’s Niall McNelis all holding their seats.

The success of Labour’s Helen Ogbu, who arrived in Ireland as a refugee from Nigeria in 2005 and who has worked in community activities since then, in Galway City East is a huge boost for the party, with John McDonagh also successful in Galway City Central at the third attempt.

There has also been a gender shift with 12 men and six women on the new council compared to a 14-four split on the outgoing authority. And while all six in the west area were incumbents, the other two areas will have three outgoing and three new councillors.

Eight of the re-elected councillors have served as mayor. Fianna Fáil has not been in power on Galway City Council since Michael Crowe was mayor in 2011 and now Alan Cheevers, John Connolly and Peter Keane will hope their time might come.

Galway City Central: 6 seats

Galway City East: 6 seats

Galway City West: 6 seats

[ View 2019 Galway City Council resultsOpens in new window ]

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