Final result in Cork North Central in doubt after call for recount
Returning Officer in the Nemo Count centre Martin Harvey and People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Mick Barry pictured discussing the recount set to begin on Monday morning. Picture: Chani Anderson.
A request for a recount threw the result in Cork North Central dramatically into doubt in the early hours of this morning, with some clarity expected by 10am.
The Labour Party’s Eoghan Kenny was deemed elected to the fifth and final seat with 7,461 votes on the seventeenth count at around 00.40am, but with only 35 votes between them, outgoing People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Mick Barry sought and was granted a recount.
Mr Barry told that he intended to decide later this morning as to whether he was seeking a full or partial recount.
His decision will have to be made before 10am, when any recount would begin.
“I’ve never asked for a recount before, and it is not something that I would do lightly, but when there’s a Dáil seat at stake and there’s a mere 35 votes separating myself and councillor Kenny, I think it’s justifiable and we’re going to go ahead with it,” Mr Barry said.
Earlier on Sunday, Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould topped the poll, becoming the first candidate to be elected in the constituency following the tenth count, and Fianna Fáil's Pádraig O'Sullivan was elected on the twelfth count.
Just after 10pm on Sunday night, on the fourteenth count, outgoing Fine Gael TD Colm Burke and Independent Ireland city councillor Ken O’Flynn had been deemed elected to the third and fourth seats, and the process of deciding the fifth seat then began.
Following the distribution of Colm Burke’s surplus on the fifteenth count, Mr Barry received 254 votes, putting him on 7,251, while Mr Kenny received 567 votes, putting him on 7,250, meaning there was only a single vote between the candidates.
Pádraig O’Sullivan’s surplus was then distributed, and on the sixteenth count Mr Barry received an additional 58 votes, putting him on 7,309 and Mr Kenny received 143, putting him on 7,393.
The distribution of Ken O’Flynn’s surplus then saw Mr Barry gain 117 votes on the seventeenth count, putting him on 7,426, and Mr Kenny gaining 68, putting him on 7,461.
As Mr Kenny was deemed elected, a huge cheer went up from the Labour councillor’s ers, who hoisted him on their shoulders.
However, the returning officer, Martin Harvey, then announced that he had acceded to Mr Barry’s request for a recount.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Mr Kenny said that while the recount would happen, it was still a great moment for his hometown of Mallow, and for his friends and family.
“I’m very proud that we have maintained a Labour Party seat in Cork,” he said.
Mr Kenny added that he could not have run his campaign without the of outgoing Cork East Labour TD Seán Sherlock and his sister Úna.
The Sherlock family has been a formidable political presence in Mallow for more than half a century, with Seán Sherlock following his father Joe into national politics, first getting elected to Dáil Éireann in 2007.
Mr Sherlock decided to retire when Electoral Commission recommendations resulted in his Mallow base being subsumed from Cork East into Cork North Central at this election.
There has been unhappiness on the part of Labour Party city councillor John Maher that Mr Kenny was placed on the ticket with him, and Mr Maher was eliminated on the eighth count at lunchtime on Sunday with 3,325 votes.
Mr Maher posted on his X that his opponent had been the Labour Party itself, adding: “Well done @labour – great strategy”.
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