This article is from page 59 of the 2009-06-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 59 JPG
ELECTION results for Ennis Town Council have revealed a massive loss in support for Fianna Fail.
The percentage breakdown of first preference votes cast in Clare’s larg- est urban area shows that support for the party has shrunk from 32.72 per cent in 2004 to 13.74 per cent in 2009. Support for Fine Gael in Ennis has jumped from 20.41 per cent in 2004 to 35.61 per cent in 2009.
The election of Brian Meaney kept the Green Party vote relatively intact
at 7.43 per cent in 2009 compared to 7.78 per cent in 2004.
Independent candidates again fared well with the percentage jumping from 28.35 per cent in 2004 to 35.05 per cent in 2009.
The striking decline in votes for Fi- anna Fail ensured that the party went from a position of having three seats in the last Ennis Town Council to just one.
One of those sitting councillors Joe Reidy did not stand as a candidate. Outgoing Mayor of Ennis, Peter Con- sidine, reclaimed his seat on the last
count. Cllr Considine’s total of 700 votes was 74 below the quota but was high enough for him to be elected.
Another sitting councillor, Tom Glynn, was not so fortunate. He lost his seat to Labour Party candidate Paul O’Shea on the Lith and final felt
Mr Glynn, who was first elected to Ennis Town Council in 1999, was eliminated from the election process on a total of 545 votes.
Speaking at the election count cen- tre in Waterpark House on Saturday, Mr Glynn said that voters had been
determined to send a message of change to the government.
“T felt from the word go it was go- ing to be difficult,” he said.
“Out on the track for the last month, I sort of knew it. Every third or fourth door I was told “Look, it’s nothing personal but you’ve got the wrong colours, you’re wearing the wrong jersey.’
He added, “People wanted to take this opportunity to show the govern- ment the level of their frustration. I do believe that we weren’t the real targets. But that’s democracy and
they had the right to do that.
“I suppose I was told 10 months ago that if I wanted the be re-elected, I would have to think about going in- dependent. But I’m part of the team. I’m a team player, the ups and the downs,’ revealed Mr Glynn.
ClUlr Glynn admitted that Fianna Fail had struggled to attract candi- dates to run in Ennis.
“We’d have begged, stolen or bor- rowed to get another candidate or two. We couldn’t get them and that showed that people weren’t confident in what was going to happen.”