The Final Seat: It’s a Green seat for Carlow-Kilkenny as Malcolm Noonan elected to 33rd Dáil

The fifth and final seat for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency will be green in colour as Malcolm Noonan was deemed elected before 3pm on Monday.

In the end, we needed to go the full ten rounds to complete the picture and it meant sitting TD Bobby Aylward losing the seat he regained in 2016.

“We’re thrilled for our family, our supporters, this wonderful team of canvassing people and back room team”, said Noonan stepping up on the KCLR stage at Lyrath Estate.

“The people want an approach that’s about a compassion and empathy with people.”

“I bring with me from this election a huge burden of responsibility. We’re going to take with us that sense of responsibility and the honour we have to represent the people of Carlow-Kilkenny.”

The children are getting LEGO…

One of @noonan_malcolm's children has let slip "we're getting LEGO" as as result of his election.#GE2020 #CWKK pic.twitter.com/vq4OndT9QG

— KCLR 96FM (@kclr96fm) February 10, 2020

Transfers really came in to play on Monday morning with Noonan overtaking Fianna Fáil’s Bobby Aylward as a result of the distribution of Adrienne Wallace’s 4,823 votes.

Count seven, underway at 10am, added 2,095 votes to Noonan’s pile, bringing him to 9,408 before picking up over 900 additional votes from Pat Deering (eliminated) and John Paul Phelan (surplus).

The Green Party candidate had hinted earlier in the day that a parliamentary meeting would be held on Tuesday to discuss where the Green Party go in terms of government possibilities.

Noonan’s election will now leave a seat vacant on Kilkenny County Council.

Carlow-Kilkenny’s 5 TDs

1. Kathleen Funchion, Sinn Féin (17,493)
2. John McGuinness, Fianna Fáil (12,612)
3. John Paul Phelan, Fine Gael (13,172)
4. Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, Fianna Fáil (12,839)
5. Malcolm Noonan, Green Party (10,542)

Watch Malcolm Noonan’s full election speech and address as part of our final live video from the count centre here.