By Denise McNamara

The five seats of the Gort/Kinvara constituency have been filled with the return of Cllr Gerry Finnerty in the final seat – after an election that threw up no surprises.

The mart manager and native of Gort has retained his seat for a fourth time for Fianna Fáil after he was deemed elected on the fifth count.

He joins sitting councillors PJ Murphy (FG), Martina Kinane (FF) and Geraldine Donohue (Ind) who were elected on the first count alongside Paul Killilea – who replaced Cllr Joe Byrne on the ticket for Fine Gael – in the constituency.

It’s the second electoral area to have finished counting, with Tuam the next constituency earmarked for the result of a first count.

Caption: Cllr Gerry Finnerty, with Katycha Connolly and Cllr Dermot Connolly at the count. Pic Gerry Stronge

Gort-Kinvara

Count 4

Finnerty, Gerry (FF) (+41) 1,456

Flynn Dixon, Megan (Green) (+9) 861

Kelly, Lucina (SF) (+48) 607

Sweeney, Alan (The Irish People) Excluded 322 votes to be distributed

Count 5

Finnerty, Gerry (FF) (+129) 1,585

Flynn Dixon, Megan (Green) (+196) 1,057

Kelly, Lucina (SF) Excluded 607 votes to be distributed.

Finnerty, Gerry elected without reaching the quota of 1,658.