LIVE UPDATES DAY FOUR: Offaly County Council

21.20pm

The formal declaration of the six candidates to fill the seats in the Birr Electoral Area has now been made, and Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, has thanked the many people who ensured the Offaly count was carried out in an "efficient, timely and professional manner."

The six candidates were elected in the following order:

Ormond Peter (FF)

Leahy John (Ind)

Clendennen John (FG)

Egan Hugh (FG)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey (FF)

Maher Sean (SF)

21.09pm

After over 54 hours of counting the race to fill the 19 seats on Offaly County Council has finally come to an end with the election of Fianna Fail's Audrey Hennessy Kennedy and Sinn Fein's Sean Maher to fill the two remaining seats in the Birr area, with outgoing Social Democrats Cllr, Clare Claffey, losing out.

Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, said a full recount of votes had been carried out and four errors had been discovered. However, she said these errors had not "materially affected the outcome" of the count, so she announced the results of the 12th count.

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: 1,282 (+18)

20.05pm

Four errors have been discovered during the recount of votes for the Birr Electoral Area. In an update just now, Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, has said the re-examination of all the votes has now been completed, but she added that "four errors" had been discovered during this process. She is due to issue a further update soon.

18.30pm

A welcome update from Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, who has just announced that the counting staff have checked the votes of "most of the candidates" at this stage, and are now examining the votes of Cllrs John Clendennen (FG) and John Leahy (Ind). She said she will then look at any changes and assess the impact "if any" of those changes.

17.25pm

Yes, we are still here at the Offaly Count Centre in Mucklagh where the re-examination of all votes in the Birr Local Electoral Area is continuing. The counting started at 2pm and four candidates votes (from a field of 15) have now been checked. They are Peter Ormond, Clare Claffey, Sean Maher and Audrey Hennessy Kennedy.

We are now moving on to the checking of Hugh Egan's votes, so we appear to be in for another long night here.

16.21pm

There's a lot of counting going on here but, sadly, very little to report. Clare Claffey and her team have been here throughout the afternoon, and Fianna Fail's Barbara Daly has just arrived and is also consulting with her team. Defeated Independent candidate, Jonathan O'Meara was here earlier, as was Sinn Fein's Sean Maher, and some members of Audrey Hennessy Kennedy's team have just arrived.

14.12pm

Good afternoon from the Offaly Count Centre in Mucklagh where we are off again for day four of counting. Returning Officer, Monica Cleary, has informed everyone that the votes of Social Democrats Clare Claffey, Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond and Sinn Fein's Sean Maher, will be the first to be re-examined.

We will keep you posted of further developments.

With a recount of votes in the Birr Local Electoral Area due to get underway at the Offaly Count Centre in Mucklagh today at 2pm, you can keep up to date with all the latest drama here on our live blog.

The recount was called for just before midnight last night (Monday) at the end of the 12th count by a representative of outgoing Social Democrats Cllr, Clare Claffey with just 27 votes separating her from Sinn Fein's Sean Maher.

Following consultation with counting staff, Returning Officer Monica Cleary announced that she would resume the count at 2pm today for a full recount of votes in the Birr area.

Just to recap on the results of the 12th count for the Birr Electoral Area, which was the distribution of Hugh Egan's surplus votes (165):

Birr Electoral Area (12th count result)

Quota: 1,712

Claffey Clare: 1,256 (+81)

Hennessy Kennedy Audrey: 1,573 (+66)

Sean Maher: 1,283 (+18)

Three candidates are vying for the remaining two seats on the 19-seat Offaly County Council.

SEE OUR DAY THREE BLOG HERE