Martin says 'thanks'

Successful Fine Gael candidate in the Athy area for Kildare County Council Martin Heydon has expressed his thanks to those who made his win possible.

"I am honoured and humbled at receiving such support in the locality, and I look forward to representing the people of the area to the very best of my ability," he says. "I can be contacted on 087-6262546 or martinheydonfg@gmail.com. Notice of my clinic details will follow shortly."

Martin took the third seat in the constituency, which returned two FG, one LAB and one FF coulcillors.

Callaghan elected

6.16pm: Willie Callaghan (FF) has been elected to the last seat in the Naas area. He received 600 transfers from the distribution of James Lawless's votes, giving him 2,144.

JJ Power (GP) received 217 transfers, giving him a total of 1,716.

Returning Officer Charlie Talbot declared Willie Callaghan elected without reaching the quota.

The elected representatives for the Naas area are thus Darren Scully and Anthony Lawlor for FG, Paddy McNamara for LAB, Seamie Moore (IND), and Willie Callaghan for FF.

Moore elected

5.40pm: Seamie Moore (IND) has been elected to the fourth seat in the Naas area, after receiving 20 of the 31 votes surplus from Darren Scully (FG). This brought his vote to 2,194.

Willie Callaghan (FF) now stands at 1,544, JJ Power (GP) at 1,499 and James Lawless (FF) at 1,109. Lawless's votes are now being distributed to decide the last seat.

McNamara elected

4.28pm: Paddy McNamara (LAB) has been elected to the Naas area on the fourth count. He received 490 of running mate Pat McCarthy's votes, bringing him to 2,420.

The remaining candidates are now receiving shares of his surplus of 229 votes.

Seamie Moore (IND) now has 2,086 votes. Willie Callaghan (FF) 1,526, JJ Power (GP) 1,377, and James Lawless (FF) 1,097. The quota is 2,191.

Thumbs up for FG duo

Scully, Lawlor elected

3.49pm: Two Fine Gael candidates have been elected to the Naas area of Kildare County Council. Darren Scully and Anthony Lawlor were returned on the third count after the distribution of Donal Corcoran's votes.

That leaves Seamie Moore (IND) now with 1,952, Paddy McNamara (LAB) now with 1,930, Willie Callaghan (FF) at 1,479, JJ Power (GP) 1,281, James Lawless (FF) 1,075, and Pat McCarthy (LAB) 908.

Pat McCarthy's votes are now being distributed.

Naas area: Corcoran eliminated

3.02pm: No candidate has yet been elected in the Naas area, following the end of the second count, which distributed the 442 votes of Tiernach Cassidy (FF) and David Monaghan (IND).

The distribution edged Darren Scully (FG) into lead position at 2,151, from his FG colleague Tony Lawlor at 2,140. Paddy McNamara (LAB) stands at 1,838, Seamie Moore (IND) 1,688, Willie Callaghan (FF) 1,435, JJ Power (GP) 1,201, James Lawless (FF) 1,040, Pat McCarthy (LAB) 847, and Donal Corcoran 786.

As no candidate has yet reached the quota of 2,191, the votes of Donal Corcoran are currently being distributed.

Naas count: Cassidy, Monaghan eliminated

1.56pm: At the end of the first count in the Naas area, Anthony Lawlor (FG) is leading the poll at 2,113, by just one vote from his fellow FG candidate Darren Scully on 2,112.

Paddy McNamara (LAB) is next up with 1,817, followed by Seamie Moore (IND) at 1,632. Willie Callaghan (FF) is fifth with 1,323. JJ Power (GP) comes next with 1,165. James Lawless (FF) is on 971, Pat McCarthy (LAB) is 829, Donal Corcoran (IND) 737, Tiernach Cassidy (FF) got 313, and David Monaghan (IND) bottomed the poll with 129.

No candidate reached the quota of 2,191, and Returning Officer Charlie Talbot has now instructed that Cassidy and Monaghan's votes be redistributed on their elimination.

Naas area count in progress

The Billy Hillis Legacy

There was much sympathy expressed for Billy Hillis losing his seat last evening, after a long period of service as a Fine Gael councillor.

He has also, in that capacity, served Kilcullen well and he will be remembered for his work for the community on a number of fronts, including the playground project most recently.

At a Council level he has been Mayor of Kildare, and was a member of many key committees. He was recently commended by former Fine Gael Leader Alan Dukes for his 'business and efficiency mentality' and his 'ability to get results'.

The splitting of his key base points in the constituency reshuffle made it perhaps inevitable that he would not succeed this time out. But he has left a very positive legacy to his party as he goes.

Last night, the almost perfect transfer of his votes kicked his FG running mate from Athy, Richard Daly, into the last seat ahead of FF's Mark Dalton.

And his initiative in asking Anthony Lawlor to run for the party in the Naas area already looks like having paid off in spades, with the popular former councillor leading the tallies prior to the actual count.

If you have to lose, this is the best possible way to do it.

Naas area count under way

In our roundup of the Naas area tallies last evening, we transposed a couple of numbers. It is Paddy McNamara (LAB) who has the 1,777 on the tally, and Pat McCarthy of the same party with 803.

The actual count has just started at the Punchestown count centre, and the first round is expected to be at lunchtime. The conventional wisdom at this point is that there will be two FG, one FF, one LAB and one Independent.

But anything can happen, as was shown last evening in the Athy area when Richard Daly (FG) was catapulted ahead of Mark Dalton (FF) by Billy Hillis's FG transfers to take the last seat.

We're covering the Naas area count on the Diary because part of Kilcullen north of the bridge will be represented by councillors in this area.

FG's Daly gets last area seat

Richard Daly of Fine Gael has secured the last seat in the Athy area of Kildare County Council.

Pictured above being congratulated by retiring FG councillor Rainsford Hendy, he reached 2,086 when 584 of Billy Hillis's transferable votes went to him on the fifth count.

Mark Dalton (FF) got 107 of Hillis's transfers, to a total of 1,880.

Daly was awarded the seat without reaching the quota.

The final result is Mark Wall (LAB), Martin Miley Jnr (FF), Martin Heydon (FG) and Richard Daly (FG).

Martin Heydon elected

Martin Heydon of Fine Gael has been elected to the third seat in the Athy area of Kildare County Council, after achieving 2,316 votes.

Pictured above with successful FG candidate for Newbridge Town Council Emma Kiernan, he was pushed over the line when he received 147 of the transferable votes from Independent John Lawler, who had earlier been eliminated.

Mark Dalton (FF) is on 1,773 (+193); Richard Daly is on 1,502 (+220); and Billy Hillis (FG) is on 991 (+69).

Billy Hillis's votes are now being checked for redistribution to decide the final seat.

Election: Lawler eliminated

After the third count in the Athy electoral area, Independent candidate John Lawler has been eliminated, and his 906 votes are being distributed.

The position of the remaining candidates is now as follows:

Martin Hayden (FG) 2,169; Mark Dalton (FF) 1,580; Richard Daly (FG) 1,282; and Billy Hillis (FG) 922.

Martin Miley Jnr re-elected

Martin Miley Jnr has been re-elected to Kildare County Council on the second count of the Athy area votes.

He was carried through the quota when he received 164 of previously elected Mark Wall's 996 surplus.

Martin Heydon (FG) now stands at 2,156, having received 176 of Wall's surplus.

Mark Dalton (FF) is at 1,558 (+140); Richard Daly (FG) at 1,273 (+205); Billy Hillis (FG) at 919 (+79) and John Lawler (IND) at 897 (+232).

Wall 'very happy' with result

New Labour councillor for the Athy area, Mark Wall, says he's very happy at the outcome. He headed the poll in the area and was elected on the first count.

His father Jack, a longtime councillor and a sitting TD also expressed himself to be well pleased.

Mark's success was also enjoyed by his wife Michelle and sons Cathal and Noel, who were with him at the count in Punchestown.

Meanwhile, outgoing FG councillor Rainsford Hendy is also a happy man this evening following the very strong performance of Martin Heydon.

Martin is expected to take the third seat as the count stands at the moment. He was nominated by Cllr Hendy to run for the party in his place, and the veteran FG councillor gave the new FG candidate much support.

Cllr Hendy served for 18 years on the Council, having been first elected in 1991.

Kilcullen will be represented by councillors in two areas, most of the town by Athy area, some parts north of the bridge by Naas area.

Wall elected on 1st count

Mark Wall (LAB) has been elected to Kildare County Council in the Athy area on the first count.

His surplus of 966 is currently being distributed.

Cllr Martin Miley (FF) received 2,180 votes. He was followed by Martin Heydon (FG) with 1,980, Mark Dalton (FF) 1,418; Richard Daly (FG) 1,068; Billy Hillis (FG) 840; and John Lawler (IND) 665.

The area is a 4-seater.

FG has strong lead in Naas area

In the Naas area of the KCC elections, FG candidate Anthony Lawlor leads the poll after the tally, with 2,045 recorded by the tallymen.

His running mate Darren Scully has 2,036 votes, according to the tally, with Pat McCarthy (LAB) on 1,777 votes. Seamie Moore (IND) is coming up fourth at 1,506.

The other tallies are Willie Callaghan (FF) at 1,284; JJ Power (GP) 1,158; James Lawless (FF) 951; Paddy McNamara (LAB) 803; Donal Corcoran (IND) 719; Tiernach Cassidy (FF) 309; and David Monaghan (IND) 122.

The first count hasn't yet been completed.

Parts of Kilcullen north of the bridge are in the Naas area.

Election Count 09

Tally counts of the Athy Area votes indicate that Mark Wall (LAB) has headed the poll, with the second seat likely to be taken by either Cllr Martin Miley (FF) or Martin Heydon (FG).

The fourth seat will be fought out between Richard Daly (FG), Cllr Mark Dalton (FF), Billy Hillis (FG), and John Lawler (IND).

On the tallies, Dalton is reported to have 12.5% of the vote, Daly 9.5%, Heydon 17%, Hillis 7.5%, Lawler 5.5%, Miley 19%, Wall 29%. Martin Heydon may have got up to 30% of the Kilcullen vote.

The Naas Area tallies, which are also of interest to parts of Kilcullen north of the bridge, had not been done up to lunchtime.

And now, some light political relief...

Kildare man and Fine Gael candidate Martin Heydon has been voted the country's sexiest man running in the local elections according to an online survey carried out by Boylesports.

Respondents were asked to rate candidates' sex appeal from 1-10 with 22% of the voters giving Heydon 10 out of 10 for his good looks.

Labour's Cian O'Callaghan was voted the second sexiest with 31% of those surveyed rating him as a 7 or higher while 23% gave new kid on the block Ronan Callely a 6 or more.

Cork man Seamus McGrath was deemed the least sexy with almost half (45%) giving him 1 out of 10 for his sex appeal. Fianna Fáil had a bad run as he was followed closely by Galway West candidate Seamus Kyne and Mayo man Michael Smyth with 36% of respondents giving each the lowest score possible.

"The men don't seem to take as much pride in their election posters as the ladies do," commented Nicola McGeady, Entertainment Spokesperson for Boylesports. "Martin Heydon was the clear winner but after that the ladies really voted towards the other end of the scale."