KILDARE: Five new TDs will represent the county as voters ring the changes

Voters across County Kildare have returned a number of new faces to the 34th Dáil in a general election which has profoundly changed the look of both constituencies.

In Kildare North three new TDs have been returned to represent the constituency which had five seats for the first time - one more when voters last went to the polls in 2020.

Aidan Farrelly, who replaced longstanding Social Democrats deputy Catherine Murphy,held onto the seat after attractkng 7,611 first preferences.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was Farrelly’s success. Many observers would have expected that either Nuala Killeen or Bill Clear would have  won the SD party nomination - on the basis that both came from urban areas (Celbridge and Naas respectively) whereas Farrelly’ s base is the Clane-Prosperous.

In the end the SD base, established by Catherine Murphy, who topped the poll in the 2020 general election when she was elected on the first count with some 19% of the first preference voters, held firm.

Farrelly was elected to Kildare County Council for the first time in 2019.

Both Joe Neville and Naoise Ó Cearúil were also elected to Dáil Éireann for the first time, representing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael respectively. Both topped in their respective electoral areas (Leixlip and Maynooth)in the June’s local elections.

Neville’s success was a bitter sweet moment for Fine Gael because long-serving deputy Bernard Durkan, who turns 80 next year and who has represented the constituency since 1982. He lost his seat for a brief period in the early period when a number of elections were held in quick succession. But he was the longest serving deputy.

The County Mayo native first won his seat when Kildae was a single constituency before it was divided into north and south.

In Kildare South, the most significant result was Shona Ní Raghallaigh election.

She was the sole Sinn Féin runner and is the only councillor her party has on Kildare County Council.

This is just her second election. The Kildare town-based teacher was only elected to Kildare County Council in June.

Labour’s Mark Wall, on the other hand, has been seeking a Dáil seat for some time.

His father Jack represented Kildare South for Labour between 1997 and 2016 and was a senator prior to that.

He crossed the line at the end of the 12th count alongside Ní Raghallaigh.

As expected Martin Heydon topped the poll in a field of 15 candidates.

Outgoing ceann comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaíl was automatically returned and will represent Fianna Fáil.

There was heartbreak for Fianna Fáil's Fiona O’Loughlin who failed in the second successive attempt to win a seat. She actually received more first preferences than Wall (7,489 to 6,654) but the Labour representative proved to be more transfer friendly. Wall was nudged towards the finishing line with over 1,200 transfers from Chris Pender (Social Democrats) after he was eliminated.