2024 Offaly Local Elections Day Two

Counting in Mucklagh Community Centre got underway just after 9am.

At 11.04pm, Returning Officer Monica Cleary adjourned the count until 10.30 am tomorrow morning.

They noticed a misplaced package in the wrong box whilst distributing Deegan's transfers.

Fine Gael's John Clendennen is inches away from the finishing line. He needs five more votes to meet the quota of 1,712. 

Independent Michael Deegan was eliminated following the fifth count in Birr.

Fianna Fáil celebrating after Declan Harvey and Ollie Bryant were deemed elected pic.twitter.com/2Lbz66rwjK

— Midlands103 (@Midlands103) June 9, 2024

The Council's for Tullamore and Edenderry were elected, leaving only Birr to be decided.

Tullamore:

Neil Feighery FG

Frank Moran FF

Sean O'Brien IND

Aoife Masterson SF

Tony McCormack FF

Declan Harvey FF

Ollie Byrant FF

Edenderry: 

Eddie Fitzpatrick FF

Fergus McDonnell Independent Ireland

Claire Murray FF

Liam Quinn FG

Noel Cribbin FG

Claire Murray SF

Fianna Fail's Declan Harvey and Ollie Byrant were elected in the Tullamore area. 

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen is watched on as the counting continues in Mucklagh. 

He said the party has worked hard to achieve the support they have in the county. 

He's thanked the electorate for their support and says there is a great political culture in Offaly. 

The former Laois Offaly Deputy said it's foolish to make predictions before the counting is done.

No candidates exceeded the quota following the forth count in Birr. 

The Green Party's Ekaterina Koneva and Aontu's Aubrey Claffey were eliminated.

Fine Gael's Noel Cribbin and Claire Murray Sinn Fein were elected on the sixth count in Edenderry. 

Sitting councillor and Fianna Fail's Robert McDermott lost his seat. 

Sinn Fein's Clare Murray and Fine Gael's Noel Cribbin have been deemed elected for Edenderry without meeting the quota. pic.twitter.com/IFD7nvjDCL

— Midlands103 (@Midlands103) June 9, 2024

No candidate was elected on the fifth count in Tullamore. 

Fianna Fail's Tony McCormck's surplus would be distributed.

No candidate reached the quota in the Birr MD area following the third count. 

Garrett Kelly was eliminated with a vote of 76. 

Independent candidate Garrett Kelly has been eliminated in Birr's Third Count. pic.twitter.com/JnKNBLc5Ro

— Midlands103 (@Midlands103) June 9, 2024

Fine Gael's Liam Quinn was returned to the chamber after taking the fourth seat in the Edenderry area. 

John McNamee of the Social Democrats had been eliminated.

No candidate had been deemed elected following the fourth count in the Edenderry area. 

Green Party councillor Mark Hackett lost his seat after he was eliminated.

Aoife Masterson said the result is ‘fantastic’ for herself, her family, and all the people that got behind her. 

She told Midlands 103’s Amelia Averis that female representation has been one of the main focuses for her campaign. 

She said ‘we need to have our voices heard on the council’.

Just after 5.00pm, the elected candidates for each area were as follows:

Tullamore had elected five out of seven of its representatives. 

Neil Feighery FG

Frank Moran FF

Sean O'Brien IND

Aoife Masterson SF

Tony McCormack FF

Edenderrry had three of its six seats filled:

Eddie Fitzpatrick FF

Fergus McDonnell Independent Ireland

Claire Murray FF

Only two candidates had been deemed elected in Birr:

Peter Ormond FF

John Leahy IND

Four seats are still up for grabs in that area.

Sinn Fein's Aoife Masterson, along with Fianna Fail's Tony McCormack and Independent Sean O Brien all reached the quota in the Tullamore area.

10 council seats were filled at this point. 

Sean O Brien's surplus was to be distributed.

No candidate was elected on the third count in the Edenderry area. 

Rory Ryan of Sinn Fein was eliminated.

After being elminated in the Tullamore area, Liam Walsh said he's a little bit disappointed.

The Green Party Candidate said the party will have to build a stronger base: 

No candidate was deemed elected in the Birr area following the second count. 

The surplus of John Leahy's votes of 103 were distributed. 

Frank Moran was been deemed elected, gaining the nine votes he needed in the second count for the Tullamore area. 

He equaled the quota of 1,459, after the distribution of Independent Deirdre Dillion and Sinn Fein's Tim Farrell's votes.

Liam Walsh, from the Green Party, was eliminated.

Minister and Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett arrived at the Count Centre. 

Her husband Mark and son Charlie were both contesting the local elections.

Fianna Fail's Tony McCormack said it looks like he will have to wait a bit longer to secure the 30 votes he needs:

Fianna Fail's Claire Murray said she delighted to be the first female candidate across the line: 

No candidates surpassed the quota following the Second Count in the Tullamore area. 

Frank Moran was just nine votes shy of being deemed elected.

Only one of the seven seats in the Tullamore had been filled at the start of the afternoon.

The first Offaly female candidate, Fianna Fail's Claire Murray was been deemed elected for the Edenderry area in the second count. She received 227 transfers from the distribution of her party colleague Eddie Fitzpatrick's votes.

The quota for Edenderry is 1,251. 

At 1pm, the results from the first count in Birr were finally in. 

Candidates spent almost an hour looking at spoiled votes, before the Returning Officer Monica Cleary took to the podium to give the results. 

Fianna Fail's Peter Ormond has topped the poll with 1,943 votes and was deemed elected. 

Independent John Leahy also had a strong preference receiving 1,815 number ones. 

Fine Gael's John Clendennen also looks set to return to the chamber after getting 1,562 number ones.

Just after 11.00am, candidates in the Birr MD area have been called to look at the spoiled votes.

Fergus McDonnell, Independent Ireland, said he's delighted to be returned to the council:

Just after 10.00am, Fianna Fail's Eddie Fitzpatrick and  Fergus McDonnell from Independent Ireland were been deemed elected in the Edenderry area. 

Eddie Fitzpatrick's said he's thrilled with the number of first preference votes he received. 

The counting of votes in Birr and Tullamore MDs resumed at 9,45am. 

In Tullamore, the surplus of Fine Gael's Neil Feighery's 503 votes were re-disturbed.

Shortly after 9am, the Returning Officer Monica Cleary announced that they would begin checking the ballots for Edenderry Municipal District. 

It was expected that the results from the First Count will be announced before 11am.

At this point only one candidate had been deemed elected in the county with Neil Feighery of Fine Gael passing the quota on the First Count in the Tullamore area just after 2am. 

He received 1,459 first preference votes - 503 more than he needed.

LIVE: Local Offaly Elections Day One