AONTÚ LEADER PEADAR Tóibín has defended his party’s performance in the local and European elections, after it landed eight council seats nationwide.

Tóibín also missed out on a seat in the Midlands-Northwest European constituency having received just under 6% of first preferences.

The party was expected to receive a post-referendum bounce after it backed No votes in the family and care referendums – being one of the few parties to do so – which was taken as a sign in some quarters that it was in tune with the public mood.

Speaking from the Midlands-Northwest count centre in Castlebar this week, Tóibín rejected a suggestion that the party had disappointed in its polling.

He said it was a “really important election” for the party, explaining that it had been able to compete in the European Midlands-Northwest election through his candidacy.

“I think it’s very clear that if anybody said to you two years ago that Aontú would be challenging for a European election seat, most people wouldn’t believe you there,” he said.

Before the election, he felt the party would be “competitive” in around 24 council seats, and that he was hoping it would reach “double figures”.

Instead it fell just short and hit eight, though the Meath West TD said this still counted as a “big plus” for the party.

“Given the fact that there has been a squeeze in this election, that the government parties held firm to a certain extent, and that there’s been a rise in the Independents, I think it’s very significant that we did make those breakthroughs there,” he said.

Tóibín said one of the characteristics of this election has been that a lot of votes have been “scattered across a lot of independents and micro organisations”, which he believes means there “won’t be a cohesive opposition” to the government.

This was likely reference in part to Independent Ireland, which has finished with 23 council seats across the country.

It also outlasted Tóibín’s party in each of the three European counts and is still in the running for a seat in Midlands-Northwest through former RTÉ broadcaster Ciarán Mullooly.

He argued that Aontú has a “big foundation for the future”, pointing to it having “hit the crossbar” in different areas, coming within 100 votes of taking seats on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Cork county councils.

Tóibín, who set up Aontú after leaving Sinn Féin due to its stance on liberalising abortion legislation, believes the party will be able to challenge for “multiple” Dáil seats at the next general election.

“I think we have challenged the government now for the first time in every single ballot box across the country as well, and I think the government will be far more wary of our challenge than the challenge of disparate Independents in the future,” Tóibín said.

He further pointed to Sarah O’Reilly topping the poll in Cavan and its councillor in Wexford Jim Codd picking up 2,455 votes in his area.

“That’s really important to us, because we do think we’re going to come back with multiple TDs into the next Dáil and that’s a good foundation there,” he added.