Key takeaways from east Mayo voting

Gerry Murray and Paul Lawless as sitting councillors were the local candidates tipped to outperform the rest from the Swinford boxes.

While a dedicated campaign by former Independent Mark Duffy proved a fascinating tryst to the east of the county.

1. Charlestown stalwart reigned supreme

Murray romped away with his local boxes in the Swinford area. The Sinn Féin candidate who previously ran in 2007 for the party garnered a colossal vote, winning 2,651 in his backyard to keep him in the offing for a few more counts.

Representation deficit for Swinford Town remains

Controversially, Swinford lost out on the chance to elect a councillor in the town back in June by a single vote. As Foxford's Neil Cruise Fine Gael beat Sinn Féin’s John Sheahan by a single vote.

According to local reports, due to Duffy’s connection and canvassing in the region, he campaigned to voters in the town, pledging to open an office in Swinford if elected to Dáil Eireann.

Fine Gael vote management falls flat

Dillon's prestige and incumbency damaging for Duffy as the former All-Star had 4 years of on the ground work and more than satisfactory recognition meant he drew level with his “teammate” Duffy with both receiving 1,000 votes each, a figure which Fine Gael may yet rue as Duffy may run out of road in terms of transfers.

Fianna Fáil hold steady

Dara Calleary will be more than happy with his 1,367 votes from Swinford boxes, a strong showing from the party in June’s local elections cemented Adrian Forkan as a strong candidate in the east Mayo region.

The east will still expect

Much of the promises ahead of polling in this county was dominated by infrastructure, in particular the N17, N5, western rail corridor and the strategic development zone at Ireland West Knock Airport.

All of which are located in the east of our county, elected TD’s will be reminded by voters in the area, as they will by the rest of Mayo’s residents on the matter of these issues improving or coming to fruition before we head to the polls for the next general election.