LIVE UPDATES DAY THREE: Offaly County Council

23.56pm

Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, has just announced that a full recount of votes in the Birr Local Electoral Area will commence at 2pm tomorrow (Tuesday), following a request from a representative of Social Democrats Cllr, Clare Claffey.

Ms. Cleary thanked counting staff for their hard work and said she needs "some time with the staff in the morning" before the recount commences.

So, after thirteen and a half hours of counting today, we are still no closer to finding out who will fill the last two seats in the Birr area.

We go again tomorrow folks. That's it until 2pm! Goodnight

23.45pm

Recount requested

With just 27 votes separating Social Democrats candidate, Clare Claffey from Sinn Fein's Sean Maher at the end of the 12th count here at the Offaly Count Centre in Mucklagh, the Claffey camp have now requested a recount, and Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, is taking time to consult with counting staff.

The results of the 12th count are as follows:

Birr Electoral Area (12th count result)

This consisted of the distribution of Hugh Egan's surplus votes (165), and this is where they went:

Quota: 1,712

Claffey Clare: 1,256 (+81)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,573 (+66)

Maher Sean: 1,283 (+18)

21.59pm

Birr Electoral Area (11th count result)

This consisted of the distribution of Barbara Daly's 1,047 votes, which went as follows:

Quota: 1,712

Claffey Clare: 1,175 (+87)

Egan Hugh: 1,877 (+419)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,507 (+295)

Maher Sean: 1,265 (+28)

Fine Gael's Hugh Egan has just been elected on this count, and his surplus of 165 votes is now being distributed. That leaves two seats still to be filled in the Birr area, so the most likely scenario is that these two seats will be filled by Fianna Fail's Audrey Hennessy Kennedy and Sinn Fein's Sean Maher.

21.00

Birr Electoral Area (10th count result)

This consisted of the distribution of Jonathan O'Meara's 881 votes and this is where they went:

Quota: 1,712

Claffey Clare: 1,088 (+176)

Daly Barbara: 1,047 (+35)

Egan Hugh: 1,458 (+65)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,212 (+102)

Maher Sean: 1,237 (+99)

No candidate has been elected at this count, and it appears to be the end of the Dooley dynasty in local politics with the elimination of Barbara Daly, daughter of the late Eddie Joe Dooley and sister of retired Cllr Eamon Dooley. The Dooley name on the local political scene stretches back over 70 years since Eddie Joe Dooley was first elected to Offaly County Council on a Fianna Fail ticket to represent the Ferbane area.

Barbara Daly's 1,047 votes are now being distributed.

20.32pm

There is an air of tension here in the Count Centre as we eagerly await the results of the 10th count for the Birr area. Cllr Eamon Dooley has been doing a lot of consulting with Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, and a large contingent of Fianna Fail supporters have turned out to support the two remaining party candidates, Barbara Daly and Audrey Hennessy Kennedy, in what is turning out to be an extremely tight race for the final seats.

Ten hours after we arrived here this morning, unbelievably there are three seats still left to fill in the Birr Electoral Area.

It looks set to be yet another long night and there is certain to be drama. We will keep you posted........

19.30pm

First-time Independent candidate, Jonathan O'Meara, who was eliminated on the 9th count has said it was "an honour and a privilege" to put his name on the ballot paper.

"If you can't take the knocks, you shouldn't get involved in the political process" he philosophically said after his elimination, having amassed a total of 881 votes. "I couldn't have done this without the support of Carol Nolan, we have been out canvassing for the past five months and we probably knocked on over 4,500 doors in that time."

He said he had "got a real glimpse of the daily struggles" that many people in west Offaly have to contend with, and said he gave his campaign "everything."

Asked if he would run again, he said "no, I don't think so, I am happy in the knowledge that I couldn't have done any more than I did to get elected, but that is democracy in action, and I wish all the remaining candidates in the race the very best of luck."

18.54pm

Birr Electoral Area (9th count result)

This consisted of the distribution of John Clendennen's surplus of 69 votes and this is where they went:

Quota: 1,712

Claffey Clare: 912 (+12)

Daly Barbara: 1,012 (+0)

Egan Hugh: 1,393 (+15)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,110 (+27)

Maher Sean: 1,138 (+4)

O'Meara Jonathan: 881 (+1)

No candidate was elected on the 9th count, so Jonathan O'Meara (Non Party) has been eliminated and his votes will now be distributed.

17.42pm

Birr Electoral Area (8th count result)

This consisted of the distribution of Mike Boylan's 645 votes and this is where they went:

Quota: 1,712

Claffey Clare: 900 (+116)

Daly Barbara: 1,012 (+33)

Egan Hugh: 1,378 (+71)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,083 (+44)

Maher Sean: 1,134 (+45)

O'Meara Jonathan: 880 (+153)

No candidate has been elected on this count, so John Clendennen's surplus of 69 votes will now be distributed.

16.10pm

Birr Electoral Area (7th count result)

This consisted of the distribution of Martin Buckley's 470 votes, and they went as follows:

Quota: 1,712

Boylan Mike: 645 (+67)

Claffey Clare: 784 (+51)

Daly Barbara: 979 (+61)

Egan Hugh: 1,307 (+101)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,039 (+17)

Maher Sean: 1,089 (+33)

O'Meara Jonathan: 727 (+56)

It's still all to play for here at the Offaly Count Centre, with no candidate being elected on the 7th count and three seats still to be filled in the Birr Electoral Area. Mike Boylan has been eliminated and his 645 votes will now be distributed.

15.05pm

Birr Electoral Area (6th count result)

Quota: 1,712

Boylan Mike: 578 (+30)

Buckley Martin: 470 (+11)

Claffey Clare: 733 (+34)

Clendennen John: 1,781(+74)

Daly Barbara: 918 (+2)

Egan Hugh: 1,206 (+10)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,022 (+82)

Maher Sean: 1,056 (+74)

O'Meara Jonathan: 671 (+45)

John Clendennen was elected on this count having exceeded the quota, while Martin Buckley has been eliminated and his 470 votes will now be distributed.

Three of the six seats in the Birr Electoral Area are yet to be filled.

14.10pm

Count 6 for the Birr Electoral Area has finally got underway here after a full recheck was carried out on the votes of Michael Deegan (Non Party) following his elimination at the end of the 5th count last night.

Michael Deegan was eliminated on 426 votes, but Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, explained that, following the sorting process last night it was found that there was 481 votes in his package. The count was then adjourned.

In a detailed explanation, the Returning Officer said "a full recheck" of Michael Deegan's votes took place this morning, and had accounted for all the votes that the non-party candidate had amassed throughout the five counts prior to his elimination.

"We identified two packages that had inadvertedly been misplaced, mistakedly placed, in Michael Deegan's holding box" she said . The first was identified on count 3, which was the transfer of John Leahy's surplus and this accounted for 50 votes.

The second package related to the elimination of Ekaterina Koneva (Green Party) on the 4th count which accounted for five votes.

She assured voters that "the randomness" of the count "had been maintained" and that the misplaced packages had been placed in their correct holding boxes, and added that they "do not interfere with any other aspect of the count at this time."

We are now awaiting the results of the 6th count.

2.10pm

We are still waiting patiently at a near empty Offaly Count Centre here in Mucklagh. Barbara Daly and Hugh Egan have been consulting with Returning Officer Monica Cleary, and a handful of candidates are waiting patiently for an update, as are we.

11.33am

Good morning from Mucklagh Community Centre where the counting continues to fill the last four seats in the Birr Electoral Area. After all the drama of yesterday, things are extremely quiet here with only a handful of people around and about half a dozen counting staff on hand.

At the adjournment of proceedings last night, after the 5th count had been completed, Michael Deegan was eliminated and his 426 votes were being distributed. However, Returning Officer Monica Cleary said an issue had arisen with regard to his votes.

"There does appear to be a package misplaced in the transfer of those votes so I am going to now reassemble Deegan's votes to see can I ascertain what package may have been misplaced" she said.

It would appear that those votes are now being checked, so we will keep you updated.

SEE OUR DAY TWO BLOG here