ElectionsIreland.org Logo
  Home | News | Boundary | People | Office | Links | Books
 Elections: Town Council | County Council | Dáil | Seanad | President | Europe | Referendum | Westminster

previous next General Election: 25 February 2011
Back Next Limerick

Twitter:
#LimerickCounty

Limerick Area (Munster)

3 Seats 10 Candidates 4 Counts
Electorate: 65,083 Quota: 11,261
 Candidate     Party     1st Pref   Share   Quota     Count   Status   Seat 

* Dan Neville  Fine Gael Lozenge   9,176   20.37%   0.81   4      Made Quota     1   ♂
Patrick O'Donovan  Fine Gael Lozenge   8,597   19.09%   0.76   4      Made Quota     2   ♂
* Niall Collins  Fianna Fail Lozenge   9,361   20.78%   0.83   4      Elected     3   ♂

James Heffernan  Labour Lozenge   7,910   17.56%   0.70   (4)      Not Elected       ♂
John Dillon3  Non party/Independent Lozenge   4,395   9.76%   0.39   (3)      Eliminated       ♂
William O'Donnell2  Fine Gael Lozenge   4,152   9.22%   0.37   (2)      Eliminated       ♂
Con Cremin  Non party/Independent Lozenge   430   0.95%   0.04   (1)      No expenses       ♂
Seamus Sherlock  Non party/Independent Lozenge   419   0.93%   0.04   (1)      No expenses       ♂
Stephen Wall  Green/Comhaontas Glas Lozenge   354   0.79%   0.03   (1)      No expenses       ♂
Patrick O'Doherty  Non party/Independent Lozenge   247   0.55%   0.02   (1)      No expenses       ♂

Total valid 45,041 69.21%

Spoilt votes 471 1.03%

Total poll 45,512 69.93%

* outgoing TD (2)
Final votes required for expenses: 2,816
Candidates: 0 female (♀), 10 male (♂)
 
The data in the table above may be sorted by clicking on the column headings
 

‘Fine Gael gain but the Collins’ dynasty survives’

More or less the old Limerick West, having gained some territory in the east from Limerick East and lost some in the west to Kerry North. It made the constituency representative of most of rural county Limerick, excluding the western parts.

Since its creation as a 3-seater in 1948, it had been one of the most stable constituencies in the country, returning 2 Fianna Fail TDs at every election bar 1997.

Fianna Fail’s decision to run just one candidate, following the last-minute retirement of John Cregan, therefore showed how much things had changed. However, some things remain the same: the Collins family has won a seat here at every election since grandfather James was first elected in 1948, and incumbent Niall maintained this family tradition. Moreover, he headed the poll, the only Fianna Fail candidate apart from party leader Micheál Martin to do this.

Fine Gael was assured of two seats. Incumbent Dan Neville was re-elected, and Fine Gael’s second seat was taken by the youthful Patrick O’Donovan, a former President of Young Fine Gael, from Newcastle West, who won more than twice as many votes as Bill O’Donnell, nephew of former minister Tom. O’Donnell and O’Donovan had publicly clashed with each other on Limerick County Council prior to the election over cuts to the minimum wage. O’Donnell had refused to back a motion calling for a reversal of the reduction to the pay rate saying the cut could save businesses and jobs.

Labour’s James Heffernan trebled the party’s vote share, but despite his impressive performance he was 700 votes behind Niall Collins on the last count. There were three other constituencies where the party won a seat with less than the 17.6 per cent that Heffernan garnered.

Former IFA president John Dillon polled respectably but was never in contention for a seat.

 
   ©1998-2024 Christopher Took & Seán Donnelly
Your feedback on this web site is welcome
Web site designed and maintained by
www.stormcentre.net
  
Page generated 29-Mar-24 10:28 AM
Twitter button logo IP Address: 162.158.78.157
Cork East Kerry North Limerick West Clare Galway West Dublin Constituencies Cork South Central Cork South West Cork North Central Cork North West Kerry South Limerick East Galway East Waterford Wexford Tipperary South Tipperary North Carlow Kilkenny Laoighis Offaly Wicklow Kildare South Kildare North Meath Westmeath Longford Roscommon Louth Cavan Monaghan Sligo Leitrim Mayo Donegal South West Donegal North East