South Inishowen: Paul Canning says he’s ‘delighted’ by the strength of his turnout with tally figures showing the Newtoncunningham man is set to top the poll in south Inishowen.
Tally figures show that Fianna Fáil Councillor Canning has taken an impressive 24 per cent of the vote.
Canning has an estimated 1,518 first preferences, meaning he is well in excess of the 1,300 quota.
However, the tallies are yet to be totally confirmed for south Inishowen.
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Speaking to Donegal Daily, Canning said: “I am absolutely delighted by the turnout by the people in south Inishowen and in the area in general.
“I was a little bit nervous because I had lost the 250 first preference votes in Manorcunningham area and I was targetting 1200 votes and I was hoping to get 500 votes to give me a good start, but I got over 740, which is almost 80% of the vote, out of Newtoncunningham alone.
” So, that was a massive lift straight away, then the likes of Carrigans, Killea, Burt, where my vote doubled, and I am delighted with it, I really am.
“I was focused on the locals,” he added. “People in Newton wants this done in Newton, the same applies for Burt and Carrigans and so forth.
“There is no point saying you are going to do something for someone, you have to walk the walk if you are going to talk the talk, and I believe I did that and that’s why people have given me their vote.”