14.30 - Pete Roche (FG ) and Louis O'Hara (SF ) have won the remaining two seats in #GalwayEast.
Pete gained a signifcant level of transfers from his running mate, Clodagh Higgins, with a whopping 4,023 votes being tranferred. As the next closest candidate needing just 765 votes to get over the quota and far closer than Geraghty's (II ) required 3,262 to get over the line, Louis O'Hara was declared as the winner of the fourth seat.
________________________________________________________
14.00 - Piles of transfer votes on Peter Roche's tables are just now finishing up. The 11th Count is expected shortly. All three remaining candidates have been congratulated on their wins. There are only two seats available.
The math ain't mathing.
________________________________________________________
13.45 - Nearly all of the count centre has been by to say hello to Declan Geraghty's adorable 11 month old granddaughter, Madison. After a good period of patiently posing for photos, Madison said 'no more paparazzi', covering her face with her hat.
________________________________________________________-
12.45 - Clodagh Higgins (FG ) has been eliminated in the 10th count. Galway East now heading into the 11th count with Higgins' 6,591 votes to be transferred amongst the remaining three candidates. Things are close for Geraghty (II ) and Roche (FG ), and depending on how Higgins' transfers go - potentially O'Hara.
Assuming that Higgins' running mate, Galway County Councillor Pete Roche, gains a huge chunk of Higgins' transfers, he currently needs 3,309 votes to get over the 10,843 quota. The other remaining candidates O'Hara (SF ) and Geraghty (II ) are also current County Councillors. O'Hara is ahead of the race at the moment, needing just 1,341 to get over the line, Geraghty needs 3,720 to get over the line.
We are now in the funny part of the election race, where transfers can fly wild and nothing can be assumed.
__________________________________________________________________________________
11.13 - Anne Rabbitte has lost her seat in Count 9 in Galway East's. Her 4,886 votes will now be distributed amongst the remaining four candidates; O'Hara, Geraghty, Higgins and Roche.
The closest to the 10,843 is Louis O'Hara who needs 1,843 votes to get over the line. After O'Hara are Roche and Geraghty, who are just 30 votes apart, with Roche on 6,447 and Geraghty on 6,477. Higgins is at the back of the pack with 5,100 votes. Will we see a resurrection of a candidate's hopes and dreams in the 10th count? With close to 5,000 votes up for grabs, anything goes.
_________________________________________
11.01 - It is Albert Dolan's 26th birthday today, his camp have just erupted into song, livening up the vibe in Galway East's count centre as we go into the ninth count of this election and two seats still up for grabs.
10.40 - Albert Dolan has been elected, receiving 11,249 votes in total, 537 of these transferring from Niamh Madden who was eliminated in the seventh count. His surplus of 406 votes will not be distributed, to the remaining five candidates.
_________________________________________
10.30 - Five minute warning for the count announced, we are currently waiting to hear how Niamh Madden's 3,015 votes will be distributed. Everyone is beginning to gather around Dolan, who needs just 131 votes to get over the quota. The phones are out, the taste of victory is being savoured in Dolan's camp.
_________________________________________
10.14am — Expectation that we're not too long away from the results of the Eighth Count that should push FF's Albert Dolan over the line and into the second seat.
Sunday 8.33am — Counting will recommence at PC Headford at 9.30 when the destribution of FG's Niamh Madden's votes will form the Eighth Count. Will be interesting to see how many of these go to the other Portumna candidate Anne Rabbitte who needs a massive transfer to save her seat. Albert Dolan is just short of the quota too, so he will be looking on hoping to benefit, as will Madden's party colleague Pete Roche.
_________________________________________
00.48 — Counting suspended after the seventh count until 9am Sunday.
00.18 Afterwards Canney said that he was delighted with the victory and that it was nine years in the making and down to hard work.
00.10 — Sean Canney elected on the sixth count just before midnight, fifteen hours after counting commenced. He received 11,204 votes, passing the surplus of 10,843.
23.18 - Result of the fifth count. Still nobody reaching the quote of 10,843.
22.30 - Correction to the the previous figures for Count 4. Silke's votes were incorrectly announced. Following the addition of 48 votes transfered from Conor Burke, Silke currently has 1,765 votes.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
22.24 - The win is within reach for the two leading candidates for Galway East, Canney and Dolan. Canney needs just 341 transfers from Eoin Madden to bring him up to the quota of 10,843. Dolan needs just 557 votes to get over the bar.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
22.16 - Results of the fourth count are as follows:
Eoin Madden (GP ) has now been eliminated. Madden's 1,687 votes will now be distributed amongst the remaining nine candidates.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
21.22 - Fourth count underway in Galway East — Fire alarm starts to blare out across the hall to audible groans. Then they realised that some lad had just leaned against the fire alert button at the door. Panic over.
21.10 - Third Count results:
Albert Dolan (FF ) 10,235 (+73 )
*Seán Canney (IND ) 10,323 (+247 )
Louis O’Hara (SF ) 7,635 (+133 )
Peter Roche (FG ) 5,551 (+18 )
Declan Geraghty (IND IRL ) 5,433 (+265 )
*Anne Rabbitte (FF ) 4,101(+38 )
Clodagh Higgins (FG ) 3,510 (+33 )
Niamh Madden (FG ) 2,843 (+66 )
Luke Silke (Aontú ) 1,770 (+213 )
Eoin Madden (Green ) 1,356 (+93 )
Conor Burke (PBP-S ) 1,373 (+61 )
Conor Burke eliminated and the distribution of his 1,373 votes will form the Fourth Count.
20.50 - As we wait for the third count to be announced in Galway East, the elimination of O'Reilly and Paul Madden puts 1,232 votes back into circulation.
It is certain at this stage that these Dolan and Canney will be the first elected in Galway East. It is just a matter of when, and who will join them as Galway East's third and fourth TDs.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
20.25 - The second count has arrived in rapid succession:
Burke (PFP ): 1,312 (+ 74 )
Canney (Ind ): 10,076 (+46 )
Dolan (FF ): 10,162 (+22 )
Geraghty (II ): 5,158 (+8 )
Higgins (FG ): 3,477 (+19 )
Madden E (GP ): 1,356 (+93 )
Madden N (FG ): 2,777 (+12 )
Madden P (Ind ): 620 (+35 )
O'Hara (SF ): 7,502 (43 )
O'Reilly (IP ): 612 (+2 )
Rabbitte (FF ): 4,063 (+7 )
Roche (FG ): 5,533 (+12 )
Silke (AO ): 1,557 (+3 ).
Non-transferable votes: 9
As the two candidates with the lowest votes David 'Irish Chariot' O'Reilly and Paul Madden will now be eliminated.
Paul Madden's 620 votes and O'Reilly's 612 votes will now be distributed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
20.10 - The first count for Galway East has arrived far quicker than previously was estimated.
The results of the first count are as follows:
First count Galway East:
Conor Burke (PBP ): 1,238.
Seán Canney (Ind ): 10,030.
Albert Dolan (FF ): 10,140.
Declan Geraghty (II ): 5,150.
Clodagh Higgins (FG ): 3,458.
Fergal Landy (Ind ): 385
Eoin Madden (GP ): 1,263.
Niamh Madden (FG ): 2,765.
Paul Madden (Ind ): 585.
Louis O'Hara (SF ): 7,459.
David O'Reilly (IP ): 610.
Anne Rabbitte (FF ): 4,056.
Pete Roche (FG ): 5,521.
Luke Peter Silke (AON ): 1,554.
Fergal Landy (Ind ) has been eliminated at the first count. His 385 votes will now be distributed amongst the remaining candidates.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
19.01 - A full recount is underway, bundles are being reopened as we speak. Word on the street is that something was discovered during the counting process which threw the previous count into question.
Considering that the previous count took an estimated 6.5 hours to near completion, it is unsure if the results of the first count will be announced in Galway East by midnight tonight.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
18.02 - The two leading candidates in the tallies for #GalwayEast, Sean Canney (Ind ) and Albert Dolan pose for photos at the count centre.
Rumour has it that nothing will be announced until 18:30. The spoiled votes have already been assessed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
17.23 - Still no sign of that first count, but Louis O'Hara is all smiles in the Galway East count centre.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
16.20 - Albert Dolan has arrived to the count centre in #GalwayEast. Dolan, alongside Canney, are in the lead according to the tallies. With the first count expected within the next 15/20 minutes, there may be two seats filled for Galway East before 5pm tonight.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
16.06 Still counting and sorting here in Headford for #GalwayEast. Two of the four seats could be filled in the first count if as expected Albert Dolan and Sean Canney get over the quota. Battle for final two seats will be fascinating with Roche and Geraghty not far apart.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
13.30 - Following a giant box of bananas and nectarines being distributed to staff at Galway East's count centre, the first count is underway. The energy in the room is still flying high, with a number of candidates arriving to the count centre.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
13.11 - 169 boxes out of 169 have been tallied, and the official count is due to begin in Galway East. With four seats up for grabs and 13 candidates - in order to succeed it is now a race to see who will be amongst the first to reach the quota of 10,405 votes in order to be elected. Taking transfers into account, it is projected to be a tight race, with Canney, Dolan, O'Hara, Roche and Geraghty all in the lead at the tally stage, with Rabbitte, Higgins sitting not far behind.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12.30 - 146 boxes talled in #Galwayeast. Canney, Dolan, O'Hara and Roche flying ahead. Canney (8897 ) Roche (4477 ) O'Hara (6207 ) Dolan (8487 ) @galwayad #GeneralElection24
12.10 - 144 boxes counted, 25 to go. Canney (Ind ), Dolan (FF ), O'Hara (SF ) and Roche (FG ) showing a strong performance in tallies so far.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11:34 - Poor voter turnout for General Election 2024 is stark for some polling stations, with three tallied boxes from polling stations in Galway East seeing a turnout average of just 31% / 32%.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11.30 - 110 out of the 169 boxes in Galway East have been tallied, with 59 still to go. The tallied boxes are predominatly in the regions of Tuam, Athenry, Kinvara and Portumna, with Monivea, Athenry and Dunmore's boxes yet to go.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11.00 - With a total voter turnout of just 13,979 out of 25,642 registered voters in Galway East, just 57% of constituents cast their votes yesterday. The breakdown within the polling districts were: Gort 50%, Loughrea 48%, Tuam 50%, Athenry 60%, Kinvara 62%, Monivea, 68%, Portumna 57% and Dunmore 63%.
10.20 - The bustling excitement in the count centre is palpable as we get well underway in Galway East.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10.12 — Boxes in the north of the constituency in #galwayeast being opened at the moment. Canney, Roche, Dolan and O’Hara doing well at this stage. This is to be expected though with the initial boxes right in their heartland. @galwayad #GeneralElection2024.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
08.19 — Good morning and welcome to the Galway Advertiser’s coverage of the counts in General Election 2024. We will have up to the minute coverage from the three count centres for Galway West (Galway Lawn Tennis Club; Galway East, (PCH Headford ); and Galway Roscommon (Hyde Park ). Follow our live blog on www.advertiser.ie and on our social media platforms Facebook, x, instagram and BlueSky. #GeneralElection24 @galwayad
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Counting staff are arriving here at the three centres and counting will officially commence at 9am. The initial tallies will give some indication of the results and we will have all that for you here as it happens. Sit back and enjoy the ride— Declan Varley
