Mammoth election count in Louth ends after three days

It was not until around 10.30 on Sunday night when the first TD was elected in Louth in General Election 2024, when Sinn Féin's Ruairí Ó Murchú was deemed elected after the 16th count, at the count centre in Coláiste Chú Chulainn in Dundalk. An hour later his Sinn Féin colleague, Joanna Byrne took the second seat in Louth, but it was not until Monday that the final three seats in the Louth constituency were elected.

It was not until around 4.30 on Monday evening that the final three TDs were elected in Louth. After count 20 in Louth, which saw the distribution of Kevin Callan's votes after he was eliminated in the previous count, the final three seats were filled.
Ged Nash for Labour made the quota and was elected, and Paula Butterly for Fine Gael and Erin McGreehan for Fianna Fáil, were both elected without making the quota, and Alison Comyn for Fianna Fáil was eliminated.

While Ruairí Ó Murchú topped the poll and Sinn Féin saw two out of its three candidates elected, one of the numerous stories of the weekend was the performance by Fianna Fáil in Louth, with Erin McGreehan taking back the seat in that the party had lost in 2020, and both the parties candidates, McGreehan and Alison Comyn performing extremely well as first time general election candidates.

Erin McGreehan took in 5,772 first preference votes, and Comyn taking 4,913. Erin McGreehan taking the seat back for Fianna Fáil might be considered all the more remarkable when it is believed that there were fears that before the election, her profile was not known well enough locally.

It was a bitterly disappointing day for Fine Gael's Senator John McGahon however, with the media scrutiny over the previous two weeks, in relation to a criminal trial in 2022 where he was acquitted of assault but required to pay €39,000 in damages in a subsequent civil trial, seen as having a serious impact on his vote, taking in 4,037 first preference votes and being eliminated after the 18th count.

There had been the belief in the McGahon camp, that while the recent media scrutiny would impact on his vote, the vocal support offered to the Dundalk candidate in the town in the days leading to the election, suggested that he was still in with a strong shout for a seat. It was not to be however, with McGahon telling the media on Sunday that he would be stepping back from politics to spend time with his family.

It was a good day for his Fine Gael colleague Cllr Paula Butterly however, who in her first run in a general election, took in 5,666 first preference votes and elected on the count, retaining a seat for the party in Louth. 

The election of Paula Butterly in Louth means an even spread of TDs in Louth, with two in the north of the county (Ó Murchú and McGreehan), Butterly in mid-Louth, and two in the south (Byrne and Labour's Ged Nash). It was a good day for Labour in Louth, with the party holding onto the seat it won in 2020, and Ged Nash improving significantly on his first preference vote since then, taking in 7,666 this time around, compared to 5,824 in 2020.

Another of the fascinating facets of the 2024 General Election in Louth, was the failure of an Independent candidate to take a seat. It was widely expected that Cllr Kevin Callan would perform well in this election and was tipped to win a seat, but after taking in 3,223 first preference votes and being subsequently eliminated on Monday in the 19th count, it was a disappointing day for the Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council.

It had always been expected that the count in Louth would be a lengthy one, with 24 candidates on the ballot paper, but it had still been hoped initially that the count would be complete after two days. The count progressed well on day one, with the first count being announced shortly after 7.30 on Saturday evening, and while no candidate was elected on the first day, nine counts were completed on Saturday and the bottom ten candidates were eliminated.

Day two saw the Green Party candidate, Dundalk's Cllr Marianne Butler eliminated after the 10th count.Cllr Butler had taken in 1,504 first preference votes, a significant fall from the 5,418 votes won by Mark Dearey who ran for the party in the 2020 General Election, reflecting perhaps the fall in support for the Green Party across the State.

Following the 13th count on Sunday, that saw the elimination of Aontú's Michael O'Dowd with 2,650 votes, O'Dowd requested a recheck of his votes in the 13th count. It was around four hours before the recheck was complete and while an adjustment saw Mr O'Dowd with 2,657 votes, it was not enough to stop his elimination.

The count continued and finally after the 16th count, Ruairí Ó Murchú was the first TD to be elected in Louth. It was the elimination of Sinn Féin's Cllr Antóin Watters in count 15 that helped Ó Murchú cross the line in count 16, with 2,815 of Watters' votes being transferred to Ó Murchú. Ruairí O'Murchú took the first seat with a surplus of 2,815 votes.

This surplus was distributed in count 17, with 2,077 votes going to his party colleague Cllr Joanna Byrne, seeing her elected in her first run in a general election, and holding onto the seat vacated by party colleague Imelda Munster. Just one more count took place on Sunday night, with Byrnes' surplus being distributed, and counting suspended until Monday morning.

Following the elimination of John McGahon after count 18, count 19 saw Kevin Callan eliminated, just four votes behind Alison Comyn.Callan requested a recheck, which was completed after 2pm on Monday. Count 20 then began, which involved the distribution of Kevin Callan's 5,682 votes and by around 4.30, the result of what would be the final count was announced.

Ged Nash exceeded the quota in the final count and was elected, with both Paula Butterly and Erin McGreehan being elected without reaching the quota. It meant elimination for Alison Comyn, who had performed very well for Fianna Fáil in her first run in a general election, taking 4,913 first preference votes. This is more than a thousand first preference votes more than Fianna Fáil's second candidate, James Byrne received in the 2020 General Election, when he received 3,911 first preference votes.

With that Deputy Returning Officer Paddy Donnelly, confirmed that all five seats had been filled in the Louth constituency.