GE24: All Three Seats Filled In Offaly As It Happened

11 candidates were vying for three seats.

1.50am 

All three Dail seats in Offaly have now been filled.

Independent TD Carol Nolan was the first to be returned to the Dail after passing the quota of 9,347. 

Fianna Fail's Tony McCormack and Fine Gael's John Clendennen were deemed elected without exceeding the quota 

12.50am

No candidates were deemed elected on the Sixth Count.

The Returning Officer Sean Ryan says Carol Nolan's surplus of 247 votes will now be re-distributed. 

11.16pm

Offaly has elected its first TD. 

Independent Carol Nolan has been returned to the Dail after passing the quota for 9,347. 

Independent Eddie Fitzpatrick has been eliminated. 

10.09pm

The wait is continuing in Offaly. 

After four counts, no candidates have been deemed elected. 

Out-going TD Carol Nolan needs just 200 votes to get her over the line. 

The Independent Deputy is followed by Fine Gael's John Clendennen, Fianna Fail's Tony McCormack and Aoife Masterson from Sinn Fein, 

8.31pm

Independent TD Carol Nolan's wait to be returned to the Dail is continuing. 

She is now less than 600 votes shy of the quota of 9,347 and looks set to be the first elected in the county. 

Three candidates are fighting for the two other seats, with less than 400 votes separating Fine Gael's John Clendennen, Fianna Fail's Tony McCormack and Aoife Masterson from Sinn Fein. 

Independent Ireland's Fergus McDonnell has been eliminated following the third count.   

Senator and Junior Minister Pippa Hackett of the The Green Party was eliminated after the Second Count along with Independent Mike Boylan and People Before Profit's Keisha Taylor.  

Cllr Clendenenn believes he will be fighting for the final seat.

The Fourth Count is now underway. 

6.58pm

Following the results from the Second Count, which was the re-distribution of Aontu's Maureen Ward's votes of 317, no candidate was deemed elected.

The Returning Officer, Sean Ryan, announced that Green Party Minister and Senator Pippa Hackett had been eliminated along with Independent Mike Boylan and People Before Profit's Keisha Taylor. 

6.12pm

Results from the First Count. 

Maureen Ward from Aontu has been eliminated. 

The quota is 9,347. 

5.44pm

The Returning Officer Sean Ryan says the first count will be announced shortly after 6pm. 

5.21pm

Read more: Independent Carol Nolan "Delighted" As She Looks Set To Be Returned To The Dáil

4.41pm

Candidates have been advised that the Returning Officer will be calling them to look at the invalid votes in the next 10 minutes. 

4.21pm

Independent Ireland's Fergus McDonnell says he's disappointed with the tallies. They showed he had just over 2,000 first preference votes. 

3.30pm

Sinn Fein's Aoife Masterson has arrived and says she's still hopeful of taking a seat. 

Read More: Sinn Fein Candidate "Hopeful" Of Being Returned To The Dáil

3.12pm

Independent Deputy Carol Nolan has just arrived at the count centre. 

2.54pm

Counting is underway in Offaly.

The first count is expected within a couple of hours but if the tallies are correct we won't have anyone elected. 

Figures show Independent Carol Nolan will have just over 8,100 first preference votes. 

The race to fill the other two seats will be between Sinn Fein's Aoife Masterson, John Clendennen of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail's Tony McCormack who are all look set to get over 6,000 number ones.

Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett, who is on just 3% of the vote, says she feels like she left her mark on Irish politics: 

1.50pm

Council staff are sorting the ballots before the First Count begins. 

12.47pm

Fine Gael say they are "quietly confident" John Clendennen will take a seat. 

Read More: Fine Gael "Quietly Confident" About Taking A Seat In Offaly

12.20pm

The final tallies from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Show Carol Nolan has received the highest number of first preferences in the county.

Candidate  Party  %
Boylan, Mike  Ind 2
Clendennen, John FG 18
Fitzpatrick, Eddie  Ind 8
Hackett, Pippa GP 3
Masterson, Aoife SF 17
McCormack, Tony FF 17
McDonald, Fergus Ind Ireland 5
Murray, Claire FF 7
Nolan, Carol Ind 22
Taylor, Keisha PBP 2
Ward, Maureen  Aontu 1

11.54am

90% of the boxes have now been opened and tallied in Offaly. 

Carol Nolan is leading the way with tallies from Fine Gael showing she has 21% of the vote. 

John Clendennen of FG has 18% followed closely by SF's Aoife Masterson  and Tony McCormack of FF both on 17%.

After all of the Edenderry boxes have been completed it puts Independent Eddie Fitzpatrick on 8% and Independent Ireland Fergus McDonell on 6% and FF Claire Murray both on 7%. 

The Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett is on 2%. 

While 1% of the ballots are going to both Independent Mike Boylan, PBP Keisha Taylor and Maureen Ward from Aontu. 

Candidate  Party  %
Boylan, Mike  Ind 1
Clendennen, John FG 18
Fitzpatrick, Eddie  Ind 8
Hackett, Pippa GP 2
Masterson, Aoife SF 17
McCormack, Tony FF 17
McDonald, Fergus Ind Ireland 6
Murray, Claire FF 7
Nolan, Carol Ind 21
Taylor, Keisha PBP 1
Ward, Maureen  Aontu 1

11.26am

Sorting of the boxes in Edenderry has just concluded.

11.05am

64% of boxes have now been opened. 

Tallies from Fine Gael are showing that Carol Nolan has the largest share so far with 20% of the vote. 

Candidate  Party  %
Boylan, Mike  Ind 0.8
Clendennen, John FG 17.2
Fitzpatrick, Eddie  Ind 7.4
Hackett, Pippa GP 2.5
Masterson, Aoife SF 17.1
McCormack, Tony FF 16.1
McDonald, Fergus Ind Ireland 7.9
Murray, Claire FF 7.5
Nolan, Carol Ind 21.4
Taylor, Keisha PBP 1.4
Ward, Maureen  Aontu 0.8

10.25am

42 boxes have been opened by the 111 staff in the count centre in Birr. 

9am

Sorting of ballots is underway in Offaly, where staff began opening boxes in St. Brendan's Community School, Birr, at 9am.

Eleven candidates are vying for three available seats. 

The five-seater constituency of Laois-Offaly has been spilt and the Faithful County stands alone for the first time since 2016. 

Independent Carol Nolan is the only outgoing TD in the county to seek re-election. 

It's also the first time in 50 years that a Cowen name has not appeared on the ballot, after Barry Cowen was elected to the European Parliament in June. 

Fianna Fáil is instead represented by Tony McCormack and Claire Murray, with poll-topping councillor Eddie Fitzpatrick resigning to run as an Independent.

Fine Gael is banking on Councillor John Clendennen to regain the seat won by Marcella Corcoran Kennedy in 2016. 

First-time General Election candidate Aoife Masterson will be hoping to make gains for Sinn Fein, which hasn’t held a seat since Carol Nolan resigned from the party in 2018. 

Senator Pippa Hackett will need to improve her vote from 2020 when she received 3,494 first preferences in the Laois Offaly constituency. 

Fergus McDonnell of Independent Ireland is back on the ballot after previously running in 2011 as a non-party Independent.

Mike Boylan is running as an Independent after failing to take a council seat in the Local Elections.  

Tullamore's Maureen Ward is contesting for Aontú and People Before Profit's candidate is Keishia Taylor.

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