Adare-Rathkeale the first in County Limerick to fill all seats

ONE OF the most hotly contested areas within County Limerick - the Adare-Rathkeale area has now filled all of its seats. 

There were six seats to fill with a quota of 1,879 votes and the area saw a total valid poll of 13,152. 

This area saw a voter turnout, on par with other areas, at 52.02%. 

Fine Gael party colleagues Stephen Keary and Adam Teskey were the first two elected, both retaining their seats. 

There was a long wait then of another five counts for Fianna Fáil’s Bridie Collins who got in on count six after missing out on the fifth count by just two votes. 

In the seventh count, having excluded the candidates with the lowest votes, Independent Ireland’s John O’Donoghue and his party colleague Tommy Hartigan were both successful along with Fianna Fáil’s Ger Ward. 

This was a big win for TD Richard O’Donoghue’s still relatively young party - the Independent Ireland party. 

Cllr O’Donoghue thanked his brother Richard and everyone in the background team for all of their support and hard work. 

The district has retained four of their seats and there are two new faces joining the mix with Hartigan and Ward. 

One of the shocks was the loss of long-standing Fine Gael councillor Michael Sheahan. 

The Askeaton native has been running in city constituencies since he got a seat in Limerick City East in 2009, but he moved over to his native homeland. 

He had just 961 votes. 

This area had also suffered the blow of two retirements in Kevin Sheahan and Emmett O’Brien and losing a councillor with such a long established history like Cllr Sheahan is always going to make a big impact.