Green Party returns to Cork City Council as Lorna Bogue elected in the South East ward

LORNA Bogue has become the first Green party councillor in Cork City Council in a decade after she was elected for Cork City south-West on the second count this morning.

After receiving 58 transfers from People Before Profit candidate Ed Fitzgerald's, she surpassed the 2,255 vote quota by 10 votes.

She joins Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill in the ward, after he was elected on the first count last night.

Ms Bogue said that her election should be seen as a judgement of Fine Gael's record on climate action.

"This is an issue where everyone across the board, they're deeply concerned about it, they want something to be done about it, they can see that nothing is being done about it.

"My vote came from Fine Gael voters. There isn't too much of a left vote in my ward, so it came from people that voted Fine Gael before.

"People on the doors were saying that - they're not buying what Fine Gael are selling.

Fine Gael don't do anything. They tell people to plug out their phones and don't use a coffee cup. The planet is dying. People are aware of this," she said.

At age 27, she's likely to be the youngest member of Cork City Council, but due to the age profile in her ward she doesn't believe that it was a youth vote that got her elected.

"It was lots of grandparents voting for their grandparents, parents voting for their children. It's older people saying, 'What kind of a world am I going to leave behind me?"