LIVE: Offaly local election count
21.07: Thank you and goodnight!
21.06: To recap, the full Tullamore LEA line-up is: Brendan Killeavy (SF), Dervill Dolan (Ind), Sinead Dooley (FF), Tommy McKeigue (FG), Declan Harvey (FF), Frank Moran (FF) and Danny Owens (FF).
The Birr line-up is: John Leahy (Ind), Peter Ormond (FF), John Clendennen (FG), Carol Nolan (SF), John Carroll (Ind) and Eamonn Dooley (FF).
The Edenderry line-up is: Martin O'Reilly (SF), Eddie Fitzpatrick (FF), John Foley (Ind), Noel Bourke (FF), Liam Quinn (FG) and Noel Cribbin (Ind).
21.00: Fianna Fail's Danny Owens has it. A re-count has shown he's still come out ahead of Independent candidate Sean O'Brien and he's taken the final seat in the Tullamore LEA.
20.43: Still no further news. Burger King has done quite the tea/dinner trade with those holding out at the count centre.
19.51: Still no news, and for those waiting for results no news is definitely not good news.
18.21: We've just heard that some of the misplaced papers 'are impacting on the fractions'. That's why it's taking so long to update us.
17.58: Well over an hour and a half later and still no news. There is a sense of anticipation though - the buzz in the count centre has gotten a little louder.
15.43: Returning officer Monica Cleary has just announced that today's Tullamore LEA re-count has found 15 misplaced papers. Analysis now, with no prospect of a result for another hour and a half.
12.09: Still no news. A team of twelve continues to work.
10.47: Good morning everyone! The Tullamore LEA count was so much fun we're doing it all again. Counting began at 10am this morning in the Cloncollig count centre. No updates today yet, but we'll be bringing them to you when there are.
19.21: I've just confirmed, there will be a full re-count of the Tullamore LEA tomorrow morning (Monday) from 10am. Edenderry and Birr LEA results stand.
19.14: Sean O'Brien has asked for a recount, and it has been accepted. The count has been suspended until 10am tomorrow morning.
19.13: Fianna Fail's Frank Moran and Danny Owens have been deemed elected in the Tullamore LEA with 1505 and 1236 votes respectively. Independent councillor Sean O'Brien has been eliminated.
18.37: Harvey's votes have been distributed. Moran is now on 1495 votes, and O'Brien and Owens are properly neck and neck at 1230 votes each. Elected Fianna Fail candidate Sinead Dooley's 18 surplus votes are now being distributed.
18.25: Nearly an hour on, we're still waiting on Declan Harvey's surplus of 47 votes to be distributed.
17.40: This could well end in a penalty shoot-out! There's only eight votes separating O'Brien and Owens.
17.39: My estimated figures were correct. The returning officer has just announced correct figures. Elected Fianna Fail councillor Declan Harvey's surplus of 47 votes is now to be distributed.
17.34: We think double the appropriate figures have been added to all three remaining councillors totals. The vote totals we've been told are Moran (1507), O'Brien (1316) and Owens (1257). I suspect the real picture is more like Moran (1481), O'Brien (1209) and Owens (1217).
17.32: Figures have been given out for a tenth Tullamore count, following the distribution of Tommy McKeigue's surplus votes. The figures announced put O'Brien well ahead of Owens, but they clearly don't add up.
16.43: Can we take from the election of Noel Cribbin that the candles being lit in Australia worked?!
16.34: We're only waiting for two seats in the Tullamore LEA to be filled now. The names still left in the hat are Moran (currently on 1457 votes), O'Brien (currently on 1102 votes) and Owens (currently on 1177 votes).
16.25: Fine Gael's Liam Quinn and Independent Noel Cribbin also elected in the Edenderry LEA.
The full line-up for Edenderry LEA is: Martin O'Reilly (SF), Eddie Fitzpatrick (FF), John Foley (Ind), Noel Bourke (FF), Liam Quinn (FG) and Noel Cribbin (Ind).
16.24: Fianna Fail's Noel Bourke has been elected in the Edenderry LEA.
16.14: Just two seats left to fill in the Tullamore LEA now, and three in the Edenderry LEA.
16.12: Fine Gael's Tommy McKeigue and Fianna Fail's Declan Harvey elected in Tullamore LEA.
15.29: McDonnell's votes will now be redistributed among Bourke (currently 1239 votes), Cribbin (currently 890), Plunkett (currently 799) and Quinn (currently 1145). You'd have to suspect a lot more of those will go Cribbin's way than Plunkett's.
15.26: Fergus McDonnell has been eliminated from the Edenderry LEA race.
15.22: There are still four seats in the seven seater Tullamore LEA to be filled. The three councillors already elected are Brendan Killeavy (SF), Dervill Dolan (Ind) and Sinead Dooley (FF).
15.20: After the eighth count, the remaining Tullamore candidates are as follows: Declan Harvey ff (1434), Tommy McKeigue FG (1332), Frank Moran FF (1428), Sean O'Brien Ind (1012) and Danny Owens FF (1122).
15.17: Fine Gael candidate Molly Buckley eliminated in the Tullamore LEA race.
15.16: Fianna Fail's Sinead Dooley is elected in the Tullamore LEA.
15.00: So far, just nine percent of our elected councillors in Offaly this weekend are female. We're expecting the final figure to be just 10.5%.
14.38: Party colleague Liam Quinn got the majority of eliminated candidate William Whittle's transfers in the most recent Edenderry LEA count. That LEA is looking as follows right now: FF Noel Bourke (1106), Ind Noel Cribbin (862), Ind Fergus McDonnell (645), FF Ger Plunkett (741) and FG Liam Quinn (1040). FF Robert Kellaghan has been eliminated, so the remaining five candidates are vying for the last three seats in the area.
14.33: Fianna Fail's Robert Kellaghan has been eliminated from the Edenderry LEA race.
14.24: O'Brien didn't do as well from the redistribution of eliminated Labour candidate Paddy Doheny as expected, putting his hopes of a seat in real trouble. O'Brien got just 43 transfers, while Fine Gael's Molly Buckley actually got the lion's share (85). The remaining Tullamore votes as it stands look like this: FG Molly Buckley (893), FF Sinead Dooley (1493), FF Declan Harvey (1415), FG Tommy McKeigue (1300), Independent Sean O'Brien (907) and FF Danny Owens (1095).
14.21: Indepenfdent candidate John Bracken has been eliminated from the Tullamore LEA race.
14.00: Independent John Carroll and Fianna Fail's Eamonn Dooley have been elected in the Birr LEA, while the only remaining candidate Michael Loughnane has been elimated. The Birr LEA line-up in full is: Independent John Leahy, Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond, Fine Gael's John Clendennen, Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan, Independent John Carroll and Fianna Fail's Eamonn Dooley.
13.42: After six counts Edenderry votes look like this: Noel Bourke FF (1069), Noel Cribbin Ind (848), Robert Kellaghan FF (391), Fergus McDonnell Ind (618), Ger Plunkett FF (722) and Liam Quinn FG (831). Fellow Independent Noel Cribbin got most of Stephen Carroll's redistributed votes.
13.40: Fine Gael's William Whittle eliminated from the Edenderry LEA race.
13.34: Tullamore candidates/votes now look like this: Independent John Bracken (515), Fine Gael's Molly Buckley (808), Fianna Fail's Sinead Dooley (1432), Fianna Fail's Declan Harvey (1354), Fine Gael's Tommy McKeigue (1227), Fianna Fail's Frank Moran (1344), Independent Sean O'Brien (864) and Fianna Fail's Danny Owens (1068).
13.31: Labour's Paddy Doheny eliminated from the Tullamore LEA race.
12.54: We're pretty much half way there by the way. We now have nine of our 19 councillors. They are: Independent John Leahy, Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond, Fine Gael's John Clendennen and Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan in the Birr LEA; Sinn Fein's Martin O'Reilly, Fianna Fail's Eddie Fitzpatrick and Independent John Foley in the Edenderry LEA and Sinn Fein's Brendan Killeavy and Independent Dervill Dolan in the Tullamore LEA.
12.50: Independent candidate Noel Cribbin's daughter in Adelaide, Australia has confirmed candles have indeed been lit for her father's election hopes. It's now nearly bedtime there and she says the candles have been burning all day! Noel is in the running for one of the final three seats in the Edenderry area.
12.47: After the fifth count and before the redistribution of Fine Gael's Theresa Wrafter's 323 votes, Tullamore looks like this: Bracken (Ind - 509 votes), Buckley (FG - 731 votes), Doheny (Lab - 418 votes), Dooley (FF - 1403 votes), Harvey (FF - 1342 votes), McKeigue (FG - 1107 votes), Moran (FF - 1333 votes), O'Brien (Ind - 858 votes) and Owens (FF - 1034 votes). The redistribution of Wrafter's votes will no doubt go in the main to her party colleagues Tommy McKeigue and Molly Buckley.
12.43: Theresa Wrafter (FG) eliminated from the Tullamore LEA race.
12.38: Eliminated Independent Edenderry LEA candidate Stephen Carroll's 304 votes are now to be distributed between Bourke (currently on 1031 votes), Cribbin (787), Kellaghan (361), McDonnell (569), Plunkett (710), Quinn (787) and Whittle (374). Interestly, Cribbin (Ind) and Quinn (FG) are now neck and neck.
12.32: Left fighting for the final two seats in the Birr LEA now are Independent John Carroll (1529), Fianna Fail's Eamon Dooley (1539) and Michael Loughnane (1205). The outcome of the fight is pretty clear at this stage though.
12.29: Independent candidate Stephen Carroll has been eliminated from the Edenderry race.
12.24: Fine Gael's John Clendennen and Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan have been elected in the Birr LEA. Clendennen is the first Fine Gael candidate to be elected this time around in Offaly. Nolan is of course the third Sinn Fein candidate elected in Offaly this time around, following in the steps of Brendan Killeavy in Tullamore and Martin O'Reilly in Edenderry.
12.19: Independent Edenderry LEA candidate Noel Cribbin (currently on 704 votes and behind Bourke, Plunkett and Quinn in the race for the last three seats in the area) has told me a candle has been lit for him by family in Australia!
12.05: Independent candidate for the Tullamore LEA Sean O'Brien (currently at 796 votes) has told Facebook friends he's 'back big time in the running for the Council vote' and says it's a straight fight between himself and Fianna Fail's Danny Owens for the final seat. He could be right too. While Owens now has 1025 votes, the elimination of fellow Independent candidate John Bracken and O'Brien's former party Labour's candidate Paddy Doheny could see him shoot right up in the reckoning thanks to transfers. I'm not going to call it yet, but the next few eliminations and redistributions will tell an awful lot.
11.56: The vote breakdown for those remaining in the Tullamore race is: John Bracken Ind (472), Molly Buckley FG (718), Paddy Doheny Lab (409), Sinead Dooley FF (1384), Declan Harvey FF (1327), Tommy McKeigue FG (1091), Frank Moran FF (1311), Sean O'Brien Ind (796), Danny Owens FF (1025) and Theresa Wrafter FG (320).
11.48: Independent candidate Seamus Kirwan has been eliminated from the Tullamore area election race.
11.42: The remaining candidates in the Edenderry race (where three seats have yet to be filled) have the following votes: Noel Bourke FF (968), Stephen Carroll Ind (300), Noel Cribbin Ind (704), Robert Kellaghan FF (353), Fergus McDonnell Ind (518), Ger Plunkett FF (708), Liam Quinn FG (761) and William Whittle FG (367).
11.39: Labour's Declan Leddin is ruled out of the running in the Edenderry area.
11.20: Fianna Fail candidates are looking strong in the Tullamore area. Sinead Dooley has 1379 votes at the moment, while Declan Harvey has 1323, Frank Moran has 1308 and Danny Owens has 1022. Fine Gael candidate Tommy McKeigue has 1088 votes. The elimination of Green Party candidate Richard Brennan and the redistribution of his votes isn't likely to make a huge difference for any of them however, so we'll have to wait another while for another Tullamore election.
11.18: In Birr Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan is looking strong. She now has 1636 votes, and is just 29 votes short of the quota. Just behind her is Fine Gael's John Clendennen on 1574 votes, Fianna Fail's Eamon Dooley on 1516 votes and Independent John Carroll on 1353 votes.
11.16: The front runner in the Edenderry area is now Noel Bourke. He has the most votes of the candidates remaining in the race, with 945.
10.58: Counts coming in thick and fast now. Denis Sheils has just been eliminated from the Birr race, and his votes (991) will be redistributed.
10.53: Richard Brennan has been eliminated from the race in Tullamore.
10.49: The third count in Edenderry that saw John Foley elected just now is a result of the redistribution of eliminated Independent candidate Emmanuel Sweeney's 128 votes.
Foley was elected with four votes to spare following a gain of 25 votes from Sweeney's votes.
10.45: Fine Gael's Patricia Brady has been eliminated for the Edenderry race.
10.44: Independent candidate in the Edenderry electoral area John Foley is elected.
10.12: This morning's count was the third in relation to the Birr electoral area, and was a result of the redistribution of eliminated Independent candidate Teresa Ryan-Feehan's 655 votes.
Independent John Carroll got 178 of those votes, bringing his total vote to 1325. Fine Gael's John Clendennen got 67 of the votes, bringing his total to 1384. Fianna Fail's Eamon Dooley picked up 28 votes, bringing him up to 1315. Fianna Fail's Michael Loughnane picked up 41 votes, bringing him to 991 votes. Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan got 98 of the surplus votes, bringing her up to 1518. Fine Gael's Pat Phelan got 30 of the votes, bringing him to 790. Fine Gael's Denis Sheils got 98 of the surplus votes, bringing him up to 873.
With nobody reaching the quota of 1665, no candidates have been elected as a result of the surplus redistribution. The candidate with the lowest number of votes - Fine Gael's Pat Phelan - is now elimated, with his 790 votes now to be redistributed.
Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan is closest to being elected at this stage in Birr. She's just 147 votes short of the 1665 quota.
10.00: The first count of this morning is in, and it's a result of the redistribution of eliminated Birr candidate Teresa Ryan-Feehan's votes. The redistribution hasn't seen anyone else elected in the area however. Elected candidate Peter Ormond's surplus vote will now be redistributed. The candidate in the area with the least number of votes at present - Fine Gael's Pat Phelan with 790 votes - has also been eliminated, and his votes are to be redistributed in addition to Peter Ormond's.
00.34: GOODNIGHT! See you in the morning.
00.34: Edenderry votes for those not elected looking like this: Noel Bourke (FF - got 33 of the surplus votes and now has 940), Patricia Brady (FG - got 6 of the surplus votes and now stands at 180), Stephen Carroll (Ind - got 25 of the surplus and is now at 266), Noel Cribbin (Ind - got 36 of the surplus and is now at 669), John Foley (Ind - got 151 of the surplus and is now at 1229), Robert Kellaghan (FF - got 16 of the surplus and is now at 352), Declan Leddin (Lab - got 13 of the surplus and is now at 254), Fergus McDonnell (Ind - got 42 of the surplus and is at 482), Ger Plunkett (FF - got 38 of the surplus and now has 705), Liam Quinn (FG - got 29 and now has 697), Emmanuel Sweeney (got 22 and now has 128) and William Whittle (got 8 and now has 344).
00.31: Martin O'Reilly's surplus distributed, but nobody else elected to Eden area on the strength of them. Count suspended until morning.
00.16: Tullamore votes for those not elected yet looking like this: John Bracken (Ind - 425), Richard Brennan (Greens - 84), Molly Buckley (FG - 695), Paddy Doheny (Lab - 393), Sinead Dooley (FF - 1340), Declan Harvey (FF - 1307), Seamus Kirwan (Ind - 239), Tommy McKeigue (FG - 1066), Frank Moran (FF - 1156), Sean O'Brien (Ind - 768), Danny Owens (FF - 1011) and Theresa Wrafter (FG - 308). The biggest gains from that distribution were Sean O'Brien (290), Declan Harvey (202) and Sinead Dooley (179).
00.14: Brendan Killeavy's surplus votes have been distributed, but nobody else elected in the Tullamore area on the strength of them. Tullamore count suspended until the morning.
23.00: After the election of Peter Ormond and elimination of Teresa Ryan-Feehan, it leaves the votes in Birr looking like this. John Carroll (Ind - 1147), John Clendennen (FG - 1317), Eamon Dooley (FF - 1287), Carol Nolan (SF - 1420), Pat Phelan (760) and Denis Sheils (775). Just a reminder too that the quota is 1665.
22.58: The distribution of John Leahy's surplus votes gave 91 to Independent John Carroll, 108 to Fine Gael's John Clendennen, 131 to Fianna Fail's Eamon Dooley, 63 to Fianna Fail's Michael Loughnane, 254 to Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan, 80 to Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond, 109 to Fine Gael's Pat Phelan, 146 to Independent Teresa Ryan-Feehan, and 39 to Fine Gael's Denis Sheils.
22.53: Teresa Ryan-Feehan has been eliminated from the Birr electoral area count. She took 146 votes from John Leahy's surplus, leaving her with 655, but that just wasn't enough to keep her in the race.
22.51: Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond has been elected in the Birr electoral area thanks to 80 votes from John Leahy's surplus.
22.33: The rest of the Edenderry vote looks like this: Noel Bourke (FF - 907), Patricia Brady (FG - 174), Stephen Carroll (Ind - 241), Noel Cribbin (Ind - 633), John Foley (Ind - 1078), Robert Kellaghan (FF - 336), Declan Leddin (Lab - 241), Fergus McDonnell (Ind - 440), Ger Plunkett (FF - 667), Liam Quinn (FG - 668), Emmanuel Sweeney (Ind - 106) and William Whittle (FG - 336).
22.32: Sinn Fein's Martin O'Reilly was elected with 1669 votes and Fianna Fail's Eddie Fitzpatrick with 1250.
22.29: The total vote in Edenderry was 8859. Of those 113 were spoiled, leaving a valid vote of 8746. The quota is 1250 and there are six seats up for grabs in the Edenderry LEA.
22.27: Martin O'Reilly (SF) and Eddie Fitzpatrick (FF) elected in Edenderry area.
22.20: The full breakdown of hos Tullamore voted is: John Bracken (Ind - 321 votes), Richard Brennan (Green Party - 58 votes), Molly Buckley (FG - 616), Paddy Doheny (Labour - 349), Dervill Dolan (Ind - 1868), Sinead Dooley (FF - 1161), Declan Harvey (FF - 1105), Brendan Killeavy (SF - 2778), Seamus Kirwan (Ind - 141), Tommy McKeigue (FG - 964), Frank Moran (FF - 1111), Sean O'Brien (Ind - 478), Danny Owens (FF - 938) and Theresa Wrafter (FG - 295).
22.17: Brendan Killeavy was elected with a vote of 2778, while Dervill Dolan was elected with a vote of 1868. Their surplus votes will now be redistributed.
22.16: The total Tullamore vote was 12302. Of those 119 were spoiled, giving a valid vote of 12183. The quota for Tullamore is 1523.
22.15: The first Tullamore vote is in, and has seen Sinn Fein's Brendan Killeavy and Independent Dervill Dolan elected.
20.26: No other candidate has reached the quota and been elected. The following are the official first count figures for each candidate: John Carroll (1056), John Clendennen (1209), Eamon Dooley (1156), John Leahy (2686), Michael Loughnane (887), Carol Nolan (1166), Peter Ormond (1598), Pat Phelan (651), Teresa Ryan-Feehan (509) and Denis Sheils (736).
20.23: The total vote in the Birr electoral area was 11770. There were 116 spoiled votes and the valid poll was 11654. The quota is 1665. John Leahy's 1021 surplus votes will now be redistributed.
20.20: Offaly's first councillor has been elected. Independent John Leahy has been elected for the Birr electoral area with a total of 2686 votes.
16.31: Sinn Fein will take at least two seats on Offaly County Council. Interestingly, Brendan Killeavy said the last time the council had a Sinn Fein member was Eamon Bulfin, back in 1923. Of course Offaly councillor John Carroll was a member of Sinn Fein, but became an Independent councillor before being elected to Offaly County Council. Eamon Bulfin was born in Argentina to Birr writer William Bulfin. He was elected to the council that decided to change Offaly's name from King's County back to Offaly.
16.26: Sinn Fein poll topper Brendan Killeavy has just popped over to say hello. He looks exhausted, but can't stop smiling. Though it's yet to be made official, Brendan will take a seat on Offaly County Council thanks to getting all the first preferences he needs and more in the Tullamore electoral area.
15.34: It's come to that part of the day when I can't see a bunch of numbers without doing some calculations. Keeping in mind that I'm not a mathematician, the figures are telling me voter turnout in Offaly yesterday was approximately 55%.
15.08 What you might have missed:
Last time around FF got 35% of the local vote in Offaly, FG got 27%, Labour got 4% and SF got 3%. This time around the tallies are suggesting FF are on 34%, FG 17.4%, Labour 1.7% and SF 17.5%. Independents have just under 30% of the vote this time around according to final tallies.
While I'm not a mathematician, by my reckoning the quota for Edenderry is going to be 1143, Tullamore will be 1496 and Birr will be 1610. Those tallies say have reached the quota are Martin O'Reilly (SF) and Eddie Fitzpatrick (FF) in Edenderry, John Leahy (Independent) in Birr (Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond is just short) and Brendan Killeavy (SF) and Dervill Dolan (Independent) in Tullamore.
Brendan Killeavy (SF) is the poll topper in Tullamore according to final tallies. His party colleague Martin O'Reilly is the poll topper in Edenderry, while Independent John Leahy has topped the poll in Birr.
15.00: I hope you entertained yourself while we were having lunch and technical problems. We're back in business now, for the rest of the day I hope.
13.08: According to latest tally from Fianna Fail, with all votes accounted for the Tullamore electoral area, Sinn Fein's Brendan Killeavy has topped the poll with 2736 votes. Next is Independent candidate Dervill Dolan on 1143 votes, followed by Fianna Fail's Sinead Dooley (1143), Declan Harvey (1094) and Frank Moran (1093). Fine Gael's Tommy McKeigue has pulled in the next highest figure of first preferences with 950 votes. The rest of the Tullamore result according to the tally looks like Danny Owens (Fianna Fail) on 938, Fine Gael's Molly Buckley on 589, Independent Sean O'Brien on 470, Labour's Paddy Doheny on 349, Independent John Bracken on 312, Fine Gael's Teresa Wrafter on 288, Independent Seamus Kirwan on 142 and finally Richard Brennan on the Greens on 58.
12.52: John Carroll's team suggest that with all bar postal votes accounted for the poll topper for the Birr electoral area is Independent councillor John Leahy with 2566 votes. Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond is next on 1563, with Fine Gael's John Clendennen on 1181. Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan polled strongly with an estimated 1137 votes, while Fianna Fail's Eamon Dooley has brought in 1100 votes and Independent candidate John Carroll looks to have brought in 1047 first preferences.
12.47: Fianna Fail tally team say all boxes accounted for in the Birr electoral area now, and the breakdown is looking like Fianna Fail (31.2%), Fine Gael (22%), Sinn Fein (10%) and Independents (36.7%).
12.38: As things stand the six in Edenderry with the most votes according to Fianna Fail are Martin O'Reilly (Sinn Fein), Eddie Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail), John Foley (Independent), Noel Bourke (Fianna Fail), Ger Plunkett (Fianna Fail) and Liam Quinn (Fine Gael).
12.37: It looks like Sinn Fein's Martin O'Reilly has topped the poll in the Edenderry area with 1546 votes, according to Fianna Fail tallies with just one box unaccounted for.
12.33: Fine Gael tally figures for the Tullamore electoral area with nine boxes still to go are: Brendan Killeavy (1802 votes), Dervill Dolan (1602 votes), Frank Moran (998 votes), Sinead Dooley (854 votes), Declan Harvey (739 votes), Tommy McKeigue (712 votes), Danny Owens (608 votes) and Molly Buckley (419 votes).
12.25: About 70% of boxes from the Edenderry electoral area have been tallied. According to Fianna Fail tallies the results so far look like Fianna Fail (37%), Fine Gael (14%), Sinn Fein (21%) and Others (28%).
12.23: According to the Fianna Fail tally the Birr electoral area is looking like this with 28 boxes tallied: Fianna Fail (30.2%), Fine Gael (23.4%), Sinn Fein (10.3%) and Others (36.2%).
12.21: According to the Fianna Fail tally with about 70% of the boxes in the Tullamore electoral area tallied it's looking the party has gotten 36.9% of the vote. According to their tally the rest of the result so far is Fine Gael (13.8%), Labour (2.6%), Sinn Fein (20%), Green Party (.6%) and Others (26%).
11.48 70% of the boxes from the Birr electoral area have been opened according to Independent John Carroll's tally team. The figures so far they think are John Carroll (870), John Clendennen (847), Eamon Dooley (601), John Leahy (1448), Michael Loughnane (734), Carol Nolan (775), Peter Ormond (1027), Pat Phelan (344), Teresa Ryan-Feehan (400) and Denis Shiels (606).
11.23: Sinn Fein candidate in the Tullamore electoral area Brendan Killeavy is at the count centre. He's told Facebook friends he's feeling 'overwhelmed'.
11.15: Sinn Fein candidate in the Edenderry electoral area Martin O'Reilly says Daingean boxes have been good to him.
10.53: According to Sinead Dooley's Facebook page she's turned off her phone and is going to 'vanish off the face of the earth' until she's brave enough to ring for an update in the afternoon. She says she's feeling sick with nerves. She was at the One Direction concert in Croke Park last night and said the screams reminded her of Limerick supporters in '94. I'm not saying there's any connection between that concert and feeling ill today, of course!
10.50: Eight of the 27 boxes from the Edenderry electoral area have been tallied. Estimates are Fianna Fail (38%), Fine Gael (18%), Sinn Fein (13%) and Independents (30%).
10.46: Nine of the 37 boxes from the Birr electoral area have been tallied, showing Fianna Fail (29%), Fine Gael (22.5%), Sinn Fein (8%) and Independents (40%). Sources say Peter Ormond and John Leahy are top so far.
10.44: At last check 7 boxes from the Tullamore electoral area have been tallied. The figures are looking like Fianna Fail (39%), Fine Gael (8%), Labour (1.5%) Sinn Fein (8%) and Others (43%). Most of those boxes from Clara area, we're told.
10.43: There are a total of 98 boxes for Offaly - 34 from the Tullamore electoral area, 37 from the Birr electoral area and 27 from the Edenderry electoral area.
10.41: As bad luck would have it connectivity is, to put it mildly, not good. We'll do our best to get around it and keep you updated though.
9.58: Now might be a good time to explain briefly how we vote in Ireland, and how those votes are counted. Ireland uses the proportional representation electoral system, and the single transferable vote. As you'll know from voting, the ballot paper lists candidates in alphabetical order and you voted in order of your preference - 1, 2, 3 etc. That bit is pretty straightforward. The counting is a little different. To be elected candidates have to reach a quota. That quota is calculated using a formula based on the number of cast votes and the number of seats up for grabs.
Votes will today first be sorted. Ballots will be counted and sorted by preference, and quotas then calculated. Any candidate who makes the quota is elected. If that candidate has unused extra votes, they are then redistributed to the candidates that are left, using the second choice (or third, fourth etc) as signalled on ballot papers.
If after redistribution no new candidate is elected the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are then redistributed.
The process continues in the same vein until all available seats have been filled.
9.52: Events are underway at the Offaly local election count in Cloncollig, Tullamore.