Labour romp in: Greens wipeout
Labour's Gerry McGuire is congratulated by Socialist Clare Daly on his election.
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THE Labour Party will be the controlling power on the newly formed Fingal County Council after the party won a staggering nine seats in last Friday's Local Elections.
The party gained an additional three seats as the expense of the Green Party which was pulverised by the national swing against the Government parties.
Fine Gael increased its number of seats from five to six , while Fianna Fáil holds four, down one from last time. The Socialist Party holds three seats, up one, while Independents May McKeon and Dave O'Connor retained their seats.
Sinn Féin lost its sole councillor in the Mulhuddart, despite the ward increasing from a four to a five seater.
It was a case of 'as you were' in the Swords ward after voters in the Fingal capital re-elected its five sitting councillors.
As expected, the Socialist Party's Cllr Clare Daly topped the poll, taking in a massive 3,192 first preference votes, some 20.5% of the overall tally in the area.
Cllr Daly was comfortably elected on the first count, though it took another nine rounds before Labour's Gerry McGuire and Tom Kelleher, Darragh Butler of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's Anne Devitt secured their seats in the early hours of Sunday morning.
- Robin KIELY
