2014 Westmeath County Council election
23 May 2014
All 20 seats on Westmeath County Council
11 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Sinn Féin
Seats won 8 5 3
Seat change -1 -3 +3
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Party Labour Independent
Seats won 2 2
Seat change -4 +2
Area of Westmeath County Council

An election to all 20 seats on Westmeath County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of the 2014 Irish local elections, a reduction from 23 seats at the 2009 election. The town councils of Athlone and Mullingar were also abolished. County Westmeath was divided into three local electoral areas (LEAs) to elect councillors for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Fianna Fáil emerged as the largest party after the elections as both government parties suffered at the polls. Labour lost two-thirds of their Councillors being reduced to just 2 seats while Fine Gael also lost 3 seats. Sinn Féin won seats on the council for the first time, 3 in total, and were joined by 2 Independents.[1][2]

Results by party

Party Seats ± 1st pref FPv% ±%
Fianna Fáil 8 Decrease1 11,412 32.9 Decrease11.03
Fine Gael 5 Decrease3 8,310 23.9 Decrease14.85
Sinn Féin 3 Increase3 3,837 11.1 Increase6.44
Labour 2 Decrease4 4,766 13.7 Decrease12.38
Independent 2 Increase2 6,391 18.4 Increase13.16
Total 20 Decrease3 34,716 100.0 —

Results by local electoral area

^ *: Outgoing councillor.

Athlone

Athlone: 7 seats
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
123456789
Independent Kevin "Boxer" Moran[*]† 21.78 2,897                
Fine Gael Tom Farrell 11.29 1,502 1,552 1,561 1,594 1,616 1,648 1,649 1,724  
Sinn Féin Paul Hogan†††††† 10.70 1,423 1,684              
Fine Gael John Dolan[*] 8.16 1,085 1,139 1,146 1,161 1,193 1,239 1,240 1,345 1,681
Fianna Fáil Aengus O'Rourke 7.88 1,048 1,256 1,267 1,306 1,357 1,387 1,392 1,494 1,636
Fianna Fáil Frankie Keena[*] 7.77 1,034 1,200 1,213 1,255 1,317 1,373 1,377 1,520 1,648
Fianna Fáil Vinny McCormack 7.27 967 983 985 991 1,001 1,010 1,010 1,080 1,088
Independent Michael O'Brien 6.85 911 1,001 1,054 1,084 1,113 1,203 1,208 1,354 1,418
Fine Gael Alan Shaw 5.43 722 817 829 838 883 899 902 911  
Fianna Fáil Tom Allen[*] 4.86 647 674 684 716 733 767 769    
Labour Jim Henson 2.37 315 388 410 428          
Independent Joe Devery 2.35 313 394 429 476 527        
Independent P.J. Coghill 2.08 277 312 333            
Independent John McNamara 0.90 120 171              
Independent Donal Jackson 0.31 41 68              
Electorate: 22,759   Valid: 13,302 (52.60%)   Spoilt: 157   Quota: 1,663   Turnout: 13,459 (53.22%)  

    Mullingar–Coole

    Mullingar-Coole: 7 seats
    PartyCandidateFPv%Count
    12345678
    Fianna Fáil Aidan Davitt[*]††† 12.90 1,492              
    Sinn Féin Una D'arcy††††††† 12.86 1,487              
    Fianna Fáil John Shaw[*] 11.02 1,275 1,287 1,290 1,307 1,331 1,404 1,588  
    Fianna Fáil Paddy Hill[*] 10.44 1,207 1,215 1,220 1,241 1,308 1,326 1,342 1,357
    Fine Gael Frank McDermott[*] 10.06 1,163 1,164 1,167 1,195 1,249 1,372 1,414 1,428
    Fine Gael Peter Burke[*]†† 8.72 1,008 1,015 1,017 1,031 1,135 1,391 1,534  
    Labour Mick Dollard[*] 8.21 950 956 960 992 1,025 1,062 1,268 1,312
    Labour Denis Leonard[*] 6.24 722 723 724 749 835 895    
    Independent Brian Fagan 5.86 678 684 695 849 888 951 1,057 1,078
    Fine Gael Emily Wallace 5.42 627 630 631 660 731      
    Labour Peter Kearney 4.50 520 521 522 563 563      
    Labour Rachel Grimes 1.47 170 170 172 172        
    Independent Angela Maher 1.23 142 143 146 146        
    Independent Pat Holmes 0.72 83 83 86 86        
    Independent Rosemary Horan 0.36 42 42 44 44        
    Electorate: 22,759   Valid: 11,566 (50.82%)   Spoilt: 205   Quota: 1,446   Turnout: 11,771 (51.72%)  

      Mullingar-Kilbeggan

      Mullingar–Kilbeggan: 6 seats
      PartyCandidateFPv%Count
      12345678910
      Fianna Fáil Paul Daly[*]†††† 15.25 1,502                  
      Fianna Fáil Avril Whitney[*]††††† 12.86 1,266 1,277 1,288 1,295 1,348 1,376 1,405 1,428    
      Fianna Fáil Ken Glynn[*] 9.89 974 992 1,011 1,023 1,058 1,068 1,114 1,133 1,138 1,207
      Labour Johnnie Penrose[*] 9.58 943 952 968 1,029 1,083 1,169 1,369 1,488    
      Sinn Féin Sorca Clarke 9.41 927 932 962 976 987 1,022 1,048 1,073 1,075 1,154
      Fine Gael Andrew Duncan 8.04 792 797 805 827 909 937 999 1,144 1,165 1,432
      Fine Gael Colm Arthur[*] 6.05 596 603 609 637 660 669 696 834 857  
      Independent Brian Fagan 5.93 584 587 733 744 765 793 876 891 903 974
      Fine Gael Michael Newman 4.78 471 487 489 569 622 635 653 653    
      Labour Detty Cornally[*] 4.77 470 471 485 516 535 587 587      
      Labour Gerry Sheridan 3.87 381 382 390 398 401 401        
      Fine Gael Chris Murtagh 3.49 344 344 350 354            
      Labour Ger Corcoran[*] 3.00 295 312 312              
      Independent Chris Burley 1.65 162 163                
      Independent Angela Maher 1.43 141 142                
      Electorate: 20,021   Valid: 9,848 (49.19%)   Spoilt: 161   Quota: 1,407   Turnout: 10,009 (49.99%)  

        Changes

        • † Athlone Independent Cllr Kevin "Boxer" Moran was elected to the 32nd Dáil for Longford–Westmeath at the 2016 general election. Ailish McManus was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 21 March 2016.
        • †† Mullingar–Coole Fine Gael Cllr Peter Burke was elected to the 32nd Dáil for Longford–Westmeath at the 2016 general election. Emily Wallace was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 21 March 2016.
        • ††† Mullingar–Coole Fianna Fáil Cllr Aidan Davitt was elected to the 25th Seanad in April 2016. Bill Collentine was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 13 June 2016.
        • †††† Mullingar–Kilbeggan Fianna Fáil Cllr Paul Daly was elected to Seanad Éireann in April 2016. Liam McDaniel was co-opted to fill the vacancy on 13 June 2016.
        • ††††† Mullingar–Kilbeggan Fianna Fáil Cllr Avril Whitney resigned her seat for personal reasons on 31 May 2017. In September 2017 Brian Crum was co-opted to fill the vacancy. Archived 2018-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
        • †††††† Athlone Sinn Féin Cllr Paul Hogan resigned from the party and became an Independent on 30 July 2018 saying the party had isolated and ostracised him since October 2015.
        • ††††††† Mullingar–Coole Sinn Féin Cllr Una D'Arcy resigned from the party and became an Independent on 22 January 2019 saying that she didn't have the support she needed and that she didn't align with its views.

        References

        1. ↑ "Westmeath: First result in – FF win first seat on Westmeath County Council". Irish Independent. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
        2. ↑ "Westmeath County Council Local elections". Irish Independent. 24 May 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
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