That was a long day!
And it’s really only the start. The 2024 Local Election count got underway on Saturday with the sports hall in Scoil Chríost Rí in Portlaoise as the base for the separating and sorting of the votes.
As is the way with these things, it was painstakingly slow progress but as the day progressed, a picture began to emerge in the three Laois Municipal Districts.
The tally teams for the candidates worked hard throughout the day – but only in Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick is there what appears a full picture, based on the tallies.
There, Conor Bergin of Fine Gael, who at 30 is the youngest candidate in the race, looks set to top the poll. Independents James Kelly and Ollie Clooney as well as Fine Gael’s John King and Paddy Bracken are also very well placed. All of those are sitting councillors set to be re-elected.
It’s for the last seat that it gets relatively interesting as currently Fine Gael’s Paddy Buggy leads the way ahead of Fianna Fáil’s longest-serving councillor Seamus McDonald.
The tallies are showing that Buggy is about 30-40 votes ahead of McDonald but there are three Fianna Fáil candidates below McDonald to be eliminated – with about 1,300 votes to come into play – a large chunk of them will surely come his way.
In Portlaoise, albeit with the health warning that the tallies from at least five boxes haven’t been accounted for, it seems that Independent candidate Tommy Mulligan is going to make a breakthrough.
It would also seem that Willie Aird (Fine Gael) will top the poll while Fianna Fáil duo Catherine Fitzgerald and John Joe Fennelly as well as Sinn Féin’s Caroline Dwane-Stanley are in a strong position.
The final seat then looks to be between Naeem Iqbal (Fianna Fáil) who currently leads the way along with sitting councillors Marie Tuohy (Labour) and Thomasina Connell (Fine Gael).
In the Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District, all six outgoing councillors look set to be returned with PJ Kelly poised to hold off his running mate Vivienne Phelan and Sinn Féin’s Aaron Kelly for the final seat.
You can check out a selection of images from our photographer Paul Dargan below.
And we’ll be back in situ for every bit of the way on Day 2.
SEE ALSO – Check out all our coverage of the 2024 Local Elections
