All three seats in Roscommon Galway filled

The final count has taken place in the Roscommon Galway constituency with Claire Kerrane, Sinn Féin, and Martin Daly, Fianna Fáil, taking the final two seats.s

Claire Kerrane said she was “very honoured and priviledged to be re-elected”, and thanked people for “putting their faith in me again”.

Martin Daly said he was “overwhelmed” with the success of his campaign as a first-time candidate, and said the result would not have been possible without the support and help of the local Fianna Fáil team.

Micheal Fitzmaurice was elected in the first count on Saturday evening at the relatively early time of 8pm, but it took until the seventh count on Sunday afternoon before the next seat was filled.

Kerrane and Daly were elected after the distribution of the votes of Eugene Murphy, Independent candidate, who was eliminated in the sixth round after accumulating 5,779 votes.

Of those votes, 1,536 went to Kerrane, 1,862 to Daly, and 968 to Aisling Dolan, Fine Gael, who finished fourth in the poll.

That gave Kerrane a total of 11,087 votes, which took her over the quota of 10, 283 and she was deemed elected.

Martin Daly had a total of 10,234, and Aisling Dolan of 7,593. As the surplus from Kerrane would not have been sufficient for Dolan to overtake Daly, the Ballygar GP was also deemed elected.

The outgoing senator from Ballinasloe said that despite missing out on a seat, she was pleased with the result as it showed Fine Gael gaining 17% of the first preference votes.

Eugene Murphy had conceded defeat in this election on Saturday afternoon after the final tally was announced, and before the sorting of votes for the first count began.

He said at that stage that the numbers “won't be sufficient to make up the gap” between him and the leading candidates, and announced his intention to run in the campaign for the Seanad.

The three elected candidates were clear leaders in the poll as soon as the tallies from the 124 boxes started to come in, with observers commenting in particular on Kerrane's strong showing across all of the constituency.

The clear gap meant that, unlike in the local elections, there was never a likelihood of a recount at any stage. There were also no surprises as the counts progressed, with the leaders after the final tally taking the three seats.

Shortly after the announcement of the final count, returning officer Olivia Bushell again called for the attention of everyone in the count centre in order to hold a minute's silence in memory of John Naughten, who had originally been selected as a candidate for Fine Gael before he passed away in October. He was replaced on the ticket by Dolan. John was the brother of outgoing TD Denis Naughten, who retired from politics ahead of this election.

Afterwards, the three elected candidates gave speeches, with all also paying tribute to the Naughten family.

Fitzmaurice said the three candidates know each other, and will work together for the constituency, “for the West, and for the rest”.

All candidates also thanked their teams, their supporters, the people who gave them their votes, as well as the staff of the count centre and the media.

Full updates from throughout Day One and Day Two of the Roscommon Galway general election count are available on our website.