GE24: Laois Count Centre Live Blog

It looks like it will be a tight contest for the third seat in the O'Moore County.

10.37pm

With that the first day of counting has been adjourned by Returning Officer Rory Hannify.

Willie Aird of FIne Gael is the sole elected candidate in Laois after crossing the threshold in the fifth count.

Sean Fleming is poised to be returned to Dail Eireann - he needs 698 votes.

The Brian Stanley/Maria McCormack race looks to have petered out, with the former Sinn Fein man leading the current Sinn Fein candidate by 1,806 votes.

This blog will be back up and running when the Portlaoise count centre re-opens at 9am.

10.36pm

Sixth count is in.

Elaine Mullally has been eliminated. Her votes will be distributed tomorrow morning.

10.18pm

Here are the details of the fifth count.

Willie Aird's surplus of 49 votes, and the 1,738 votes from Ken Mooney and Maria Hand will now be distributed.

9.45pm

Willie Aird of Fine Gael has become the first candidate elected in the midlands for General Election 2024.

The Fine Gael Councillor knew he was on the way to topping the poll from very early on.

After the fifth count, Mr. Aird exceeded the quota, thanks to a transfer of 149 votes from Rosie Palmer of the Green Party.

His final total on the night is 9,619.

The first candidate elected in Laois has been a public servant since 1979.

He says it was worth the wait:

8.55pm

Shortly before the fifth, and probably final count of this evening, none of the three seats in Laois have been secured so far.

Willie Aird of Fine Gael is just 100 votes shy of the quota of 9570.

Sean Fleming needs another 1,100 to return to the Dail, and will almost certainly finish in second.

His message to the people of Laois is that they've secured strong representation in government: 

8.20pm

After the fourth count in Laois, Rosie Palmer of the Green Party has been eliminated.

Ms Palmer's 747 votes are to be distributed among the remaining candidates.

Willie Aird remains 100 votes shy of the quota, and may have to wait for more than one count.

Unless Fine Gael and the Greens are particularly transfer-friendly.

7.26pm

The third count has been announced in Portlaoise.

Willie Aird continues to inch towards election, he's now 194 votes shy of the quota of 9,570.

The candidate with the lowest votes has been eliminated - Pauline Flanagan's campaign ends this evening.

The Independent's 610 votes will now be redistributed in the fourth count.

6.39pm

Results from the second count have just been announced.

No candidate meets the quota after the redistribution of Jason Lynch's (IND) votes.

That means Austin Stack has been eliminated.

His 502 votes will now be redistributed.

6.33pm

Willie Aird says he's looking forward to the challenge of representing all the constituents of Laois.

The Portlaoise man is likely to be elected at some point this evening.

He says he's ready to work on a national platform.

6pm

We've had the first count!

Willie Aird is just 301 votes shy of the quota, but will have to sustain at least two more counts to get over the line.

Jason Lynch has been excluded, and his 170 votes will now be redistributed.

5.43pm

There's talk of the first count being complete sometime around 6pm - that comes with a significant health warning.

Most predictions on progress are proving to be wildly inaccurate.

5.35pm

A man very much in demand, Cllr Aird, soon to be Deputy Aird, found time for Sinn Fein candidate, Maria McCorkmack.

Maybe as close as Sinn Fein and Fine Gael will get in future weeks?

5.28pm

The big winner of the day, Willie Aird has arrived at the count centre.

The Portlaoise Councillor picked up 25% of the first preference votes based on today's tallies and is expected to be elected at some stage this evening.

With a tear in his eye, he's telling Midlands 103 he's humbled by the support:

4.06pm

Elaine Mullally is holding out hope that she may stay in the race for the third and final seat.

The first time candidate picked up 6.3 per cent of the first preference votes from the tallies earlier today.

However, her team is telling her that she appears to be transfer-friendly in the early stages of the counting process.

3.20pm

Former Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has arrived at the count centre and is expressing his delight at the performance of Willie Aird.

The longstanding Laois TD says he's enjoying his first election off in a long time.

Deputy Flanagan is calling the result as follows:

Willie Aird (FG), Sean Fleming (FF), and Brian Stanley (SF).

He also believes the to coalition parties are set to return to government, support by either a smaller party, or a group of independents.

2.35pm:

Digging deeper into the tally returns, we can look at where Willie Aird picked up his support district by district in Laois.

Unsurprisingly, the lions-share of his votes are coming from his own municipal area of Portlaoise at 38.9% of the 9102 tallied votes.

He saw strong support from Borris-in-Ossary/Mountmellick at 35%, with 25.7% of his votes coming from Portarlington/Graiguecullen.

A snapshot of the final tally results:

2pm:

The final tally is in for the Laois constituency.

Willie Aird is on his way to claiming a seat in Dail Eireann after taking 24.7% of the vote.

Sean Fleming follows in second with 21.1% and looks likely to win a seat for Fianna Fail.

The third and final seat will be disputed between the now independent candidate Brian Stanley, and Sinn Fein's Maria McCormack.

Mr Stanly has a 17.6% share of the vote based on the tallies, with Ms McCormack on 12.5%.

Laois Councillor, and former Sinn Fein rep Aidan Mullins says Maria McCormack has done well to be so competitive at this point:

12.54pm:

Tallies are just at 73%.

There's been some confusion about the status of the boxes.

Votes are being sorted ahead of the first count which is expected to commence around 1.30pm.

Fine Gael and Willie Aird look set for a good day after dominating the tally counts.

Sean Fleming looks safe for a return to the Dail for Fianna Fail.

While there will be a potentially long and fascinating battle between Independent Brian Stanley and Maria McCormack of Sinn Fein over the course today, and most likely tomorrow's counts.

11.50am:

With over half of the boxes opened in Laois, Fine Gael Councillor Willie Aird looks to have a strong lead in the constituency.

Tallies indicate the Portlaoise man on 24.8%, with Minisiter of State Sean Fleming on 20.5% for Fianna Fail.

Brian Stanley is in a good position to retain his seat in the Dail on 17.5% in third.

Maria McCormack is currently fourth in the three seat race on 13%.

She says she would love to see Laois send a woman to Leinster House:

11.04am:

Independent Councillor, Aisling Moran, has performed well in boxes from Graiguecullen and Arles, non-party candidates excluding Brian Stanley are currently at 14.4 per cent of the vote share in the Laois.

Ms Moran says the front runners are clear:

10.30am:

The latest tallies are showing strong support for what we can now start calling the 'big four' in Laois.

So far, Fine Gael are leading the way on party support at 22.7%, followed by Fianna Fail at 20.8%, Sinn Fein have 14.9% of the party vote in the county, while it looks like Brian Stanley is commanding 20.1% as an Independent.

Minister of State and Laois TD Sean Fleming is performing strongly across the board, while WIllie Aird looks well positioned to claim the seat being vacated by former Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

Maria McCormack of Sinn Fein looks like she may have to make up ground to compete for a seat in the constituency.

Independent Councillor, Aisling Moran, has performed well in boxes from Graiguecullen and Arles, non-party candidates excluding Brian Stanley are currently at 14.4% of the vote share in the Laois.

9.47am:

An initial canvass of party volunteers suggests Maria McCormack is performing well for Sinn Fein.

The Ballyroan woman was selected to run for the party in the wake of Brian Stanley's controversial departure earlier this year.

Fianna Fail are very happy with how Sean Fleming is performing so far.

Fine Gael say they're happy about what they're seeing for Willie Aird.

They're also seeing a fairly even split between Ms McCormack and Brian Stanley.

Independent Councillor Aisling Moran believes the Sinn Fein candidate will go well, she's hopeful a third seat may be up for grabs between herself and Ms McCormack.

While Sinn Fein say they're quietly confident.

Early days.

9.15am:

Counting is underway in Laois, where staff began opening an initial 36 boxes upon Laois Returning Officer, Rory Hannify's call, in Scoil Chriost Ri Portlaoise, at 9am.

A fully tally should be available this afternoon and that will paint a picture of who may be set to claim one of the three seats.

12 candidates are standing for election in the constituency.

Laois-Offaly has been spilt with the O'Moore County standing alone for the first time since 2016. 

Sean Fleming of Fianna Fail, and Brian Stanley, now an Independent, are the two incumbent TDs heading into this weekend's contest.

While Willie Aird will be hoping to claim a seat Fine Gael have had occupied by former Justice Minister, Charlie Flanagan.

Now departed from Sinn Fein in acrimonious circumstances, Brian Stanley was the poll topper in 2020 for Laois-Offaly with 24% of the first preference votes.

Many eyes will be looking to his performance as an Independent after a rolling war of words in the media with Sinn Fein.

The three big parties look set to dominate in most constituencies based on last night's exit poll.

The post-vote survey puts Sinn Fein ahead on 21.1% with Fine Gael on 21%, and Fianna Fail at 19.5%.