Auctioneers bidding for three seats
Fine Gael’s Tomas Ryan is retiring after 30 years in County Hall and the man hoping to replace him is Pat Burton, a former maths and science teacher who founded auctioneers’ firm Burton Crowley and O’Flynn in 1980.
Burton lives on the western side of the constituency at Inniscarra and should have a relatively free run in that area as the main battle ground is on the ‘eastern front’ in Glanmire.
Dan Fleming, who runs his own auctioneers’ company in Blarney, is also considered a cert to hold onto a seat for
Fianna Fáil, even if the party suffers from an expected voter backlash.
At the last local elections, Fleming came in second with 3,197 first preference votes of over 19%.
He could afford to lose 1,000 votes and still be in with a chance of winning a seat.
Over on the eastern front are sitting councillors Gerry Kelly (FG) and Labour’s John Gilroy.
Kelly lives in the village of Knockraha, although he carries considerable sway in the more built-up areas, especially Glanmire.
In 2004, the school principal, who was a former Homemaker of the Year award winner, bagged 20.57% of the first preference vote.
His 3,402 first preferences brought him across the line on the first count.
Many believe he is likely to be in poll position again come the June 6 count.
John Gilroy, however, faces an uphill task to retain the seat he first won last time out. He’s up against another auctioneer, Michael Burns.
Burns ran in the 2004 election and was beaten for a seat by Gilroy, who is a psychiatric nurse at St Stephen’s Hospital, Glanmire.
That time out Burns was flying the PD flag and got 1,507 first preferences, compared to Gilroy’s 1,829.
It will be a titanic struggle between Burns and Gilroy as both are extremely active community workers. Burns is a former chairman of the Glanmire Area Community Association and heavily involved in the GAA and community games. Gilroy has also involved in sporting organisations and community groups and has managed to get a lot of grants for the locality.
Sinn Féin is running John Stanton, a former Glen Rovers senior player who was born in Blackpool but now lives in Tower.
He got 1,199 first preferences in 2004, but fell by the wayside because transfers never came his way.
If he can poll well, he could provide a surprise.
Kevin Conway, who is running as an independent is a real outside shot. He lives in Blarney and gained notoriety by fighting to ensure that the 2,500-house plan for Stoneview was carried through in a sustainable fashion.
