Sinn Féin majority in Council chamber for the first time

The council had been nationalist controlled from 2019 but following an election where 21 of the 22 candidates fielded by the party were elected, it is fair to say this election was a roaring success for the party.

Sinn Féin picked up six additional seats with significant gains in all of the Fermanagh DEAs for the party. Their vote share had an increase of 12.4 per cent across the district.

READ MORE: Fermanagh politicians react to Sinn Féin's election victory

The UUP held their own when it came to the Fermanagh DEAs but it was down to the wire in both the Enniskillen DEA and the Erne North DEA for the party but with the help of TUV transfers, they got over the line.

However, there were losses in the Tyrone DEAs which mirrored the parties overall trend in Northern Ireland.

Roy Crawford is congratulated by wife Carol and son Mark.

The party lost former Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA Rosemary Barton in the Mid-Tyrone DEA and lost their youngest elected representative on the council, Matthew Bell. The vote share for the party fell be 2.9 per cent. With seven seats they are the largest Unionist grouping on the Council closely followed by the DUP.

The DUP performance across Northern Ireland was mirrored in FODC, the party lost 0.1 per cent of the vote share across the district but picked up an extra seat in the Mid-Tyrone DEA with Shirley Hawkes elected. With six councillors they are within touching distance of becoming the largest Unionist party in the council.

In line with the trend across Northern Ireland for the party, the SDLP grouping in Fermanagh and Omagh has shrunk. The SDLP suffered significant losses in the elimination of Mary Garrity (West Tyrone), Paul Blake (Enniskillen) and John Coyle (Erne North).

SDLP candidate, John Coyle, cuts a lonely figure as the Erne North count takes place last Saturday in Omagh Leisure Centre. He would miss out on re-election by the end of the count.

They will still have representation in the Council chamber in the form of Adam Gannon (Erne West), Garbhan McPhillips (Erne East) and Bernard McGrath (Mid-Tyrone). The parties vote share fell by 2.6 per cent across the district.

One major change for this mandate of the Council is the emergence of the Alliance grouping. Eddie Roofe will join Councillor Stephen Donnelly. The party increased their vote share on a district level by 2.7 per cent but took on a huge increase in the Enniskillen DEA, the party increased their number of votes by 151.29 per cent.

Eddie Roofe

The 2019 mandate had four Independents and now the Council will return with one solo Independent in Josephine Deehan (Omagh). The CCLA’s Donal O’Cofaigh, a noted local health campaigner also lost his seat. This suggests, that perhaps when the electorate went to the polls it was not local issues that were on their mind.

There will be new faces across three of four DEAs with Enniskillen electing two new faces; Eddie Roofe and Dermot Browne, one new face in Erne East, Noeleen Hayes, and three new faces elected to Erne West; Elaine Brough and Declan McArdle, Sinn Féin as well as former UUP Special Adviser Mark Ovens. Erne North had no new faces but returned John Feeley, Sinn Féin and David Mahon, DUP who both lost out in 2019.

Mark Ovens UUP and Adam Gannon, SDLP are congratulated on their successes by their wives.

One interesting element of the overall picture is the gender balance, there is an increase in women who make up the Council. 12 women were elected to serve the district last week, nine are Sinn Féin councillors and they are joined by one DUP councillor, one female UUP councillor and Independent Josephine Deehan. In 2019, ten women were elected.