The seven new faces joining Meath Co Council after Local Election success
Who are your new Meath county councillors. Ann Casey, Noelle Finegan and Sally Harding profiles the newcomers
The only newcomer in the Kells LEA is PETER CAFFREY who managed to pick up a second seat for Sinn Féin party. Hailing from Johnny Guirke's stronghold of Oldcastle, he runs a successful furniture business 'Caffrey's Furniture' and is also a publican in the town.
Caffrey's Furniture was established in the 1960's by his family and now has outlets in Navan, Cavan, Dundalk, Dublin and Athlone.
Caffrey said: The party ran a third candidate Oliver 'Figgy' Curran who lasted until the final count but finished 300 votes behind Caffrey who took the last seat.
Aontú's big success in this election was getting a second councillor elected to Meath County Council in DAVE BOYNE.
The 42-year old father-of-five is originally from Boardsmill and now living in Trim.
Boyne was elected on the final count without reaching the quota taking the fifth seat to finish just ahead of Padraig Coffey (FF).
A delighted Boyne said he was "quietly confident" of his chances of taking a seat, saying there was a lot of support out there. He added you get a gut feeling though there were others more seasoned than him.
An engineer, business owner and entrepreneur with 20 years experience in telecoms and green energy, Boyne said "the hard works starts today and long may it continue".
Fianna Fáil was delighted to win a second seat in the Trim electoral area for the first time in 15 years with Enfield butcher, PADRAIG COFFEY being elected on the final count. From Rathcore, Coffey has been interested in politics from a young age but this is the first time he ran for election. The party's strict vote management strategy of dividing geographical areas between candidates appears to have paid off this time in helping the party return a coucillor from Enfield for the first time in decades having come closse but not succeeding in several elections over the years.
Speaking after his election, an emotional Coffey said: "It's an an unbelievable feeling. Without getting too emotional, it is an extraordinary feeling. We went through all the counts and that I suppose is the hardest part and then you get over the line and you have it. I will go back and use it to the best of my ability in the area I am in." Coffey said Fine Gael held the seat in Enfield for the past 50 years and with respect to those who held it, he would now be taking up the mantle in the morning and do what we can for the area. He said he was looking forward to stepping up to the plate.
Community activist CAROL LENNON was elected to the Laytown/ Bettystown area on the the last count on Monday having received 934 first preference votes.
Bettystown based Lennon who qualified as a barrister last year is a carer for her four children who have autism. She ran for election alongside colleagues, Geraldine Keogan (IND) also elected to the Laytown/Bettystown area and Amanda Smith (IND) who secured a seat in Ashbourne. The trio were successful as part of Senator Sharon Keogan's Indepedent candidate campaign dubbed "Team Keogan."
"I'm so delighted with the support I got from my community and my family," said Lennon. " I'm so excited to continue my work and now I won't have to receive carers allowance anymore which will be huge because I will be able to do more than 18 and a half hours a week," she added.
"I have been caring for the last 22 years and I have been an activist for 22 years just looking for inclusivity as in doing that people noticed me.
"I was approached and asked if I would consider running for election and I thought I don't know if this is for me and then I thought hold on, this is the next gradual step.
"Politics was always on the horizon, it was probably a five or ten year plan and all of a sudden it became six weeks."
The newly elected councillor says she will not waste any time in tackling the issue close to her heart.
"Exclusion is a huge issue with transport exclusion, excluding disabled people. We have wheelchair accessible buses and bus drivers who refuse to put the ramps down.
"We have tokenism where they have a disability sticker and it isn't inclusive. We have a beach that can't be accessed by people who are disabled because it is over taken by abled bodied people.
"For me, community should be priority and community involves every person in it, we don't exclude the most vulnerable, what we should be doing is embracing them and bringing them in with everybody else.
Bettystown national school principal MARIA WHITE was the only Sinn Fein candidate to be elected to the Laytown/Bettystown area. White received 1059 first preference votes and is one of three elected councillors that are based in the seaside town.
"I always had an interest in politics and it was always a little bit inevitable that it was going to be in my future," said the newly elected councillor.
"I studied sociology and social policy for my first degree and was always interested in issues of inequality," she added.
"My uncles were involved in trade unions so I would always have been hearing about workers rights and activism."
Although entering the politial arena may have been a surety, timing was key according to the new Sinn Fein Cllr who said:
"I went to Australia to work for two years in 2009 and that was a dream of mine to work with aboriginal children.
"When I returned my mam was diagnosed with MND (Motor Neurone Disease) and I was caring for her and I was also completing a masters and it was also another goal of mine from when I entered into teaching to become a principal.
"I didn't have the confidence to see myself as an election candidate. I suppose when I became principal, I struggled for a while with imposter syndrome and I really had to dig deep and learn how to have that self belief."
However clarity came when a family in the school Maria was principal of became homeless.
"I just thought if people like me keep saying no to putting themselves forward due to a lack of belief in themselves, what hope do we have changing things for the better, if we are not going to have new energy, new ideas and people with determination to make positive change.
"Living and working in the heart of the community and being out on the school gate every day really gives you a good insight into how the community is feeling about what we need more of."
Housing, community policing, road safety issue, flooding, bus shelters, parking and accessibility are some of the issues Maria is hoping to tackle in her first term as a public representative.
Sinn Fein's FIONNAN BLAKE is the station officer at Dunshaughlin Fire Station, where he has worked for the past 26 years, and as station officer for the past six.
From a well known Dunshaughlin family, his father Padraig and uncle, Arnold were both firemen in Dunshaughlin.
Taking a seat for Sinn Fein in Ratoath Electoral Area, he said he was delighted at the "unbelievable result"
"I didn't think I was going to make it at times during the day of the count, so it was an unbelievable result.
"I want to thank the Sinn Fein team, especially Trish Murtath and her partner, Helen Meyer, Seamus Lynch and Darren O'Rourke for showing me the ropes, my family, my son and daughter, Jamie and Abbie.
"I am looking forward to the work ahead.
"My priorities are a ring road to take the traffic away from Dunshaughlin, support for young people, community and sports groups and I will be pushing for the rail line from Dunboyne to Dunshaughlin and Navan."
"Sinn Fein had 14 candidates and we all worked together. Everyone supported one another and that contributed to result,"he said.
He paid tribute to Labour's Eilish Balfe and Fianna Fail's John Donohoe who came close to election.
LINDA MURRAY NELSON took a second seat in Navan for Fine Gael.
A well known local businesswoman, she runs The Zone and Huckleberry's Den with her husband, Finbarr Murray.
When her business was threatened with closure because of colossal insurance costs, she joined the Alliance for Insurance Reform as a director and founded PALI (Play, Action and Leisure Ireland) with a number of other businesses.
"We now have 120 businesses in a group scheme for insurance."
She comes from a well known Navan family.
Her late father Frank Nelson, who died four months ago and her late Mother, Imelda, began their working lives at the ages of 12 and 13 and in their 20s they set up their own business, which eventually became Royal County Furniture, while raising six children.
"I also worked from an early age, starting in a gift shop called Gestures at 13."
After studying for a degree in Business Studies and a post graduate course in public relations, she worked for a time in the drinks industry, then set up her own marketing business Angel Marketing before meeting her husband and setting up their current busineses.
The mother of two said she was delighted and humbled by her election and vowed to get stuck in and work really hard.