No 'revolution' but landmark result for four far-right candidates in local elections 

Glen Moore took the fourth of five seats in the Palmerstown-Fonthill constituency in South Dublin County Council shortly before 4am.

Then, at 3.30pm, the first-ever candidate for the National Party (NP) to be elected secured the fifth and final seat in Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart in Fingal County Council, Dublin.

Patrick Quinlan, who is also standing in the European Parliament Dublin constituency, did well on transfers from an Aontú candidate and jumped ahead of the Fine Gael candidate, Steve O’Reilly, into the fifth spot.

Their elections, represent a breakthrough for the two extremist parties in Ireland. They, together with the election of two independent candidates on Sunday, brings to four the total number of far-right candidates elected – all in Dublin.

Separately, gardaí have confirmed that they “escorted” a male from the South Dublin County Council count centre in Lucan on Sunday after a request from the Returning Officer.

Video footage had circulated of well-known far-right live-streamer Philip Dwyer being requested to leave by a uniformed garda, accompanied by private security, at the count centre.

It happened during the tenth count for the Tallaght Central constituency where Mr Dwyer was standing for Ireland First.

Gardaí said that while they escorted an individual out of the premises, they were not pursuing any further inquiries.

“This matter is not being investigated by gardaí at this time,” Garda HQ said in a statement.

It pointed out that the running of election centres and count centres was “a matter for Returning Officers appointed by local authorities”.

Mr Dwyer was eliminated on count 14 after getting 886 votes.

The election of Mr Moore and Mr Quinlan means that two of the four far-right political parties have secured a seat in the local elections.

The IFP fielded an estimated 23 candidates, while the NP put out nine candidates.

The NP is split internally with the leaders of the two factions – James Reynolds and Justin Barrett – both standing in the European Parliament Midlands-North-West constituency.

None of the 55 candidates of the Irish People's Party were elected nor were any of the eight contenders from Ireland First.

The success of Mr Moore and Mr Quinlan followed the election of prominent organiser of anti-immigrant and far-right protests, Malachy Steenson in Dublin North Inner City, and later on Sunday of Gavin Pepper in Ballymun-Finglas, both standing as independents.

Mr Quinlan did well out of the distribution of the votes of Robbie Loughlin of Aontú when the latter was eliminated in Count 11.

Of his 640 votes, 154 went to Mr Quinlan, compared to 41 to Fine Gael’s Steve O’Reilly, who he passed into the fifth spot, and fifth seat, with 838 votes.

Elsewhere overnight, Kevin Coyle, independent, was eliminated on the twelfth count in Artane-Whitehall in Dublin City Council on 1,715 votes, just 80 votes behind Jesslyn Henry of Social Democrats who took the last seat there.

Another prominent figure on the far right, and also running as an independent, Fergus Power, was eliminated on the seventh count in Killiney-Shankill after getting 826 votes.

Speaking on Sunday after his election on the thirteenth count to RTÉ, who he described as a propaganda machine for the State, Mr Steenson said his success sent “a very clear message the revolution has begun”.

He said: “It’s a fabulous result for the nationalist movement in Ireland, it’s a fabulous result for the people of Ireland. We are taking our nation back.” 

He was later joined by Mr Pepper in the Ballymun-Finglas constituency, who secured his seat thanks to a large number of first preferences and transfers from other far-right candidates.

This constituency scored very high first preference votes for far-right candidates, gathering a fifth of all votes - 3,131 votes out of a total valid poll of 15,241.

Mr Pepper's 1,126 first preference votes, the fifth highest out of 16 candidates, put him in a good position.

Stephen Redmond of the National Party secured 930 first preference votes while Leon Bradley, prominent in the ‘Finglas Says No’ anti-immigration group, secured 819 first preference votes.

By the seventh count, Mr Pepper managed to get enough transfers to stay in the hunt, at sixth spot with 1,312 votes.

The elimination of Mr Bradley and his 1,021 transfers gave him 293 votes and Mr Redmond 272.

The elimination of Aontú’s Edward Mac Manus gave Mr Pepper an extra 219 votes in Count 10, bringing him to 1,835 votes.

The next elimination was Mr Redmond and the transfer of his 1,476 votes, which saw 617 votes going to Mr Pepper, resulting in his election on Count 11.

There were significant disappointments for the far-right, with Andy Heasman, founder of the Irish People party, doing poorly in the Blanchardstown constituency, with just 139 first preference votes. He was eliminated on the third count.

In the Cork City North West constituency, far-right agitator Ross Lahive, Irish People, fell at the final hurdle, beaten to the last seat by People Before Profit’s Brian McCarthy.

Prominent far-right candidate Derek Blighe, founder of Ireland First, failed to get elected in Fermoy, Co Cork.

He secured a relatively large first preference votes (915) and continued to attract transfers during the eliminations and reached 1,158 by the sixth count.

But, as no candidate had reached the quota, and his was the lowest number, he was eliminated. He was some 120 votes behind the two candidates above him.