'Great advances in Moate in recent years' - McCormack
For the next five years, just like the last five, there will be no Moate-based councillor in the Moate electoral area of Westmeath.
However, the absence of a resident representative has certainly not been holding Moate back according to re-elected Ballymore councillor Vinny McCormack.
"Myself and Cllr Tom Farrell have both worked tremendously hard in Moate in the last five years, and there's been great advances in Moate over that period of time," he said.
"We have the Moate Town Team, which (himself and Cllr Farrell) are both a key part of, and that's really driving on investment into the future in Moate town.
"We have a number of projects, with huge investment, gone into Moate in the last five years and I think that was proven at the ballot box, because we both received a large percentage of the Moate-based vote, so obviously the people in Moate have been appreciative of the work the two existing councillors have been doing."
The Fianna Fáil representative was first elected in 2019, and he saw an impressive increase in his vote this time around, with his first preferences increasing by 317, to 1,630.
"I've worked hard over the last five years as a councillor, and it's good to see the reward coming on that, in terms of increased votes right across the electoral area," he commented.
Cllr McCormack works as a parliamentary assistant to Westmeath TD Robert Troy and he found his involvement as a county councillor over the last five years "very fulfilling".
"There's a huge amount of funding out there for community groups, and I've been pleased to be able to help many of them improve their facilities.
"I look forward to doing more of that, because there are great opportunities out there for clubs and community groups to grow."
He added that addressing the problem of speeding in rural towns and villages, by securing a commitment to have local authority funding allocated specifically for addressing this issue on an annual basis, would be one of his key priorities for the new council term.