2024 Laois Local Elections Day Two

Live coverage from the Portlaoise count centre on day two of the 2024 Local Elections.

1.07

Sinn Féin’s Caroline Dwane Stanley has been deemed elected to Laois County Council, meeting the quota of 1,460 in Portlaoise.

Aontu’s Martha Ryan has been eliminated, and her 187 votes will be distributed when counting resumes at 12.05pm tomorrow.

00.52

Nobody has been deemed elected following the sixth count of Graiguecullen/Portarlington.

Ben Brennan's surplus of 80 will be distributed to remaining candidates when counting resumes at 11.50am tomorrow morning.

Here's how things are shaping up as counting concludes for Graiguecullen/Portarlington for the night:

00.30

Fianna Fáil's Declan Good has been eliminated on the fourth count in the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick area.

His 284 votes will be distributed to the remaining candidates when the count for that LEA resumes tomorrow morning at 11.30am.

Here's the state of the poll in the area as counting concludes for Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick for the night:

00.15

Independent John Cowhig and Sinn Féin's Jason Phelan have been eliminated following the second count of the Portlaoise area.

23.45

Independent Ben Brennan and Fianna Fáil’s Paschal McEvoy have been elected to Laois County Council after exceeding the quota on the fifth count of Graiguecullen/Portarlington.

Mr. McEvoy’s surplus of 80 will be distributed to the remaining candidates.

Both candidates secured 1,666 votes to get retain their respective seats on the local authority.

That's half of the Graiguecullen/Portarlington seats secured, with Fianna Fáil's Padraig Fleming leading the charge among the remaining candidates - he's 103 votes shy of the quota.

Mr. Fleming is trailed by Independent Aisling Moran and Fine Gael's PJ Kelly.

Vivienne Phelan has narrowed the gap somewhat, and is just over 100 votes behind Mr. Kelly.

23.01

Independent Kevin Drennan has been eliminated after the third count of the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick area.

His 198 votes will now be distributed to the remaining candidates.

Fine Gael's Conor Bergin remains on top of the poll, 84 votes shy of the quota.

22.28

Sinn Féin's Aidan Mullins has been elected to Laois County Council on the fourth count of the Graiguecullen/Portarlington area.

He exceeded the quota with a surplus of 11 votes.

Mr. Mullins stormed ahead to the top of the polls after securing 203 votes from Fianna Fáil's Joey Kennedy.

Independent Ireland's Patsy Fennell was also eliminated from contention in the LEA - his 722 votes will now be distributed to the remaining candidates.

Fianna Fáil's Paschal McEvoy is just 52 votes shy of the quota, while Independent Ben Brennan is also polling strongly, with 1,499 votes.

He picked up 107 votes from his party colleague, Mr. Kennedy.

It's unlikely there'll be any shake up in the LEA.

22:04

Green Party’s Fiona Dunne has been eliminated in the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick area following the second count.

Her 121 votes will now be distributed among the remaining candidates. 

Fine Gael’s Conor Bergin remains at the top of the poll with 1,614 votes, leaving him with just 98 remaining votes to reach the quota.

Fianna Fáil’s Paddy Bracken is following behind with 1475 and requires 255 votes to secure a seat.

21.44

Willie Aird has retained his seat on Laois County Council after surpassing the quota of 1,460.

His surplus of 80 will now be distributed.

Sinn Féin’s Caroline Dwane Stanley is just 45 votes shy of reaching the quota - she sits at 1,415.

She’s trailed by John Joe Fennelly of Fianna Fáil, and Independent Tommy Mulligan.

Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Fitzgerald is also polling well.

Fine Gael’s Barry Walsh looks promising to take the sixth seat in Portlaoise, while the final seat looks to be the result of a contest between Labour’s Marie Touhy, who’s on 632 votes, and Fianna Fáil’s Naeem Iqbal, who’s just eight votes behind.

Fine Gael’s Thomasina Connell, as shown by the tallies, is also in contention for that final seat, but could miss out - she’s on 540 votes.

Here's how things stand after the first count:

21.17

Fianna Fáil's Joey Kennedy has been eliminated following the third count of the Graiguecullen/Portarlington area.

His 625 votes will now be distributed.

Ben Brennan received 135 votes from Eoin Barry's distribution - the Independent now sits on 1,492 votes, and has taken the lead in the poll.

He's 94 votes off reaching the quota.

Fianna Fáil's Paschal McEvoy is narrowly trailing, at 1,427.

21.07

A third count of the Graiguecullen/Portarlington area is due shortly.

20.34

Bryan Corrigan, of Labour, has been eliminated after the first count in Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick.

His 99 votes will now be distributed.

It represents the second Labour candidate to be eliminated from Laois, after Eoin Barry's disqualification in Graiguecullen/Portarlington.

Conor Bergin, of Fine Gael, tops the poll, with 1,606 votes - he's 106 shy of reaching the quota of 1,712.

He's trailed by Fianna Fáil's Paddy Bracken, with 1,452, followed by Independent James Kelly with 1,408, and Fine Gael's John King's 1,353 votes.

Ollie Clooney is at 1,245, while Fine Gael's Paddy Buggy and Fianna Fáil's Seamus McDonald are neck and neck for the sixth and final seat, with just 20 votes separating the two.

Here's the full breakdown after the first count:

20.22

An announcement from the first count from the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick LEA is expected shortly.

20.06

Labour's Eoin Barry has been eliminated after the second count in the Graiguecullen/Portarlington area.

His 557 votes will now be distributed.

Fianna Fáil's Paschal McEvoy continues to top the poll.

After the result, Mr. Barry said 'it wasn't meant to be,' and he's thanking all of those who helped him with his campaign.

Here's how things stand in the area:

19.13

The first count in the Graiguecullen/Portarlington area has been revealed.

Nobody has been deemed elected, and Fianna Fáil's Paschal McEvoy topped the poll, with 1,402 votes.

Sinn Féin's Aidan Mullins is coming in second, with 1,359, while Independent candidate Ben Brennan is in third, with 1,350.

Green Party candidate Charlie Hackett received the lowest number of votes, at 214, and has been disqualified. 

The quota is 1,586.

Here's how things are shaping up in the LEA:

16.36

Laois is the only county in the country to not have a first count announced.

It was in contention with Meath, which has just revealed the first count.

Fine Gael's Conor Bergin is set to top the polls in Borris in Ossory/Mountmellick, however he doesn't expect to be elected on the first count.

He explains how he's strengthened his campaign since the last Local Elections:

15.52

There's yet to be a first count announced at the Portlaoise centre, however one is expected in Borris in Ossory/Mountmellick soon.

Laois is joined by Meath as the only two counties in the country to not have a first count announced in the 2024 Local Elections.

14.10

Independent Ben Brennan is set to top the polls in the Graiguecullen/Portarlington, and continue a steady trend of improving in the polls in every Local Election in the polls since 2009.

He has this advice for anyone on the cusp of being eliminated, or in a tight contest for a final seat:

13.06

The ballot papers have been moved from the 'pigeon holes' in all three LEAs, and counting is underway.

It's expected the first count in Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick will be announced in a matter of hours.

That's likely to be followed by Graiguecullen/Portarlington, while Portlaoise is lagging behind in the count.

12.46

Portarlington Sinn Féin rep, Caroline Dwane Stanley, is a shoe-in for a seat, according to the tally results.

However, the party is looking unlikely to gain a third seat in the county, with Aaron Kelly vying for the final seat in Graiguecullen/Portarlington.

Ms. Dwane Stanley explains where she feels it went wrong for Sinn Féin:

11.46

Five boxes weren't tallied in the Portlaoise area yesterday, with some candidates speculating they may see a bump up in votes as a result when the first count is revealed.

Fianna Fáil's Naeem Iqbal is among those, and says he's curious to see how much he benefits:

11.10

Good morning from the Laois County Council count centre in Portlaoise.

The count process is just resuming, with the announcement of a first count expected this afternoon.