Live Updates: Election Day 1

11:30

That concludes our coverage of the local elections day 1. We will back in Moate tomorrow morning for yet another long day of counting. We will be bringing you live updates once again on our website and across our social media pages. Another interesting day lies ahead as the 20 seats are to be filled on the Westmeath County Council.

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11.25

Retired councillor Paddy Hill is "very happy" with his party's performance in Westmeath so far.

Click here to read his thoughts.

11:20

Returning officer Pat Murtagh has announced that counting will be suspended tonight at midnight and that it will resume counting tomorrow morning at 9am. No first count result has been reached this evening in any of the LEA's.

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11:10

Count centre staff are understood to have not yet decided what time the count will stop tonight.

However, one senior member of staff pointed out that people who were on duty at polling stations yesterday are also working at the count centre today and they will need to be “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” for a long day of counting.

Another senior politician in the county has said the plans are that counts will continue until midnight and if they’re close to a first count at that point they will continue and if not counting will be suspended and resumed tomorrow.

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10:25

WATCH: Minister Peter Burke discusses Fine Gael's performance today in the local elections.

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10:20

The verification of questionable ballots in the Moate LEA is being completed under the very watchful eye of onlookers. No update on first count as of yet.

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10:15

Speaking at the count in Moate, poll topper Mick Dollard says social media is a "nightmare for politicians".

Click here to read Mick's thoughts.

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10:10

Fine Gael has a “battle and a half” on its hands to keep its five seats on Westmeath County Council.

That’s according to outgoing veteran councillor Frank McDermott who is at the count centre in Moate showing support for his brother Seamus.

Click here to read Frank's full thoughts.

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9.45

A first count might not come here in Moate until 11pm or even midnight.

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9.34

Cllr Andrew Duncan chose not to go to the count centre in Athlone as he wanted to take his posters down.

“I kept checking in though,” he says. He’s hopeful of success: “I’ve my work done so we!ll see what happens..It’s still early days and you never know what way it will go with transfers.”

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9:15

A warm congratulations for Boxer Moran from former council colleague Detty Cornally.

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8:10

WATCH: Action getting underway in Moate with the sorting of ballots.

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8:00

Cllr Denis Leonard is feeling confident on top of the Kinnegad poll.

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7.35

The start of action is now underway at the count centre in Moate. Packs of blue ballot papers being sorted for counting. They are the Mullingar papers.

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7.30

The tally for mail-in ballots is just finishing up here in Moate and the first official count is expected to be announced in the coming minutes.

Here's a reminder of where things are now:

Mullingar LEA

1. Mick Dollard (1,675)

2. Ken Glynn (1,303)

3. Aoife Davitt (965)

4. Andrew Duncan (947)

5. Bill Collentine (925)

6. Gerard Heery (746)

7. Julie McCourt (562)

8. Fidelma Bennett (528)

9. Hazel Smyth (427)

Kinnegad LEA

1. Denis Leonard (1,438)

2. Alfie Devine (1,228)

3. David Jones (1,128)

4. Niall Gaffney (1,047)

5. Seamus McDermott (959)

6. Emily Wallace (938)

7. Brian Crum (583)

Moate LEA

1. Thomas Farrell (2,155)

2. Vinny McCormack (1,600)

3. Liam McDaniel (1,471)

4. Johnnie Penrose (1,424)

5. Michael O'Brien (1,011)

6. Paul Hogan (666)

7. John Lawlor (410)

Athlone LEA

1. Kevin 'Boxer' Moran (3,725)

2. Frankie Keena (1,348)

3. John Dolan (1,210)

4. Aengus O'Rourke (1,104)

5. Conor Dowling-Linehan (431)

6. Louise Heavin (365)

7. Tom Cleary (310)

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5.45

Count staff are beginning to arrive at the Westmeath count centre. The ballots are due to arrive within the next hour and counting will begin shortly after. The segregation of ballot papers in TUS Athlone is now complete and the ballots are now en-route.

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4.40

Barry Cowen has emerged as the favoured MEP candidate of choice for voters in Westmeath with 2,552 first preference votes after almost half of the ballot boxes have been opened.

He’s followed closely by Ciaran Mullooly (2,344), Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (1,593), Nina Carberry (1,434) and Maria Walsh (1,376).

It’s been a poor showing for Sinn Féin in Westmeath, whose candidates, Michelle Gildernew and Chris McManus, have secured 5.3% and 1.3% of first preference votes counted so far, respectively.

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4.35

The tally has started to finish up now at TUS, with just two boxes left to be counted in Kinnegad.

Next stop: Moate.

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4.10

Sinn Féin candidate David Jones has jumped into second place in tallies for the Kinnegad LEA, with 992 first preferences in total, after votes from the Delvin area were counted.

He's not claiming victory yet and says “we’ll count our chickens when they hatch,” adding his thanks to the “many people who put their faith” in him.

Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke says her party’s candidates “are very much in the mix in a lot of areas,” as they aim to avoid a repeat of 2019 when they returned no seats.

“It will come down to transfers,” she adds.

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4:00

Deputy Robert Troy says things are "still to early to call" for his party, despite it now looking likely that Fianna Fáil will retain its nine seats on Westmeath County Council.

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3.45

Kinnegad LEA

Denis Leonard (LB), Emily Wallace (FG) and Alfie Devine (FF) look set to take three of the five seats in the Kinnegad LEA. Leonard is very comfortable at the top with 1,341 and is expected to top the pole. Fine Gael's Emily Wallace should retain her seat with 871 and Alfie Devine of Fianna Fáil looks to get over the line, he currently has 801 first-preference votes according to the tallies.

Séamus McDermott is polling strong, gathering good support from his brother Frank who retired from politics prior to the election. He is currently on 477, however, the ballot box in Fore is yet to be opened and should do very well there. Commentators believe he should win a seat.

Delvin, the town that has not had a councillor in the town in almost 20 years, looks as if the candidates has split the vote between Niall Gaffney (FF), David Jones (SF) and Laura O'Neill (AO). Both Gaffney and Jones are polling relatively well but it remains to be seen where transfers will go and who will take the final seat.

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3.40

Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran is soaring high in first place in Athlone with 3,312 first preference votes so far with 87% of boxes open.

He has over 2,000 more votes than the next nearest candidate Cllr Frankie Keena, followed by Cllr Aengus O’Rourke on 1,028, both of whom could join 'Boxer' in being elected on the first count.

It seems likely that Cllr John Dolan (658) and Sinn Fein newcomer Conor Dowling-Linehan (402) will take the fourth and fifth seats.

That means potential disappointment for the Green Party’s Cllr Louise Heavin and independent Cllr Paul Hogan, who will now be hoping transfers go their way.

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3.18

The latest tallies here for all LEAs in Westmeath.

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3.15

Cllr Mick Dollard has gone into first in Mullingar with eight ballot boxes left to be opened.

He’s followed by Cllr Ken Glynn, Cllr Aoife Davitt (762) and Cllr Andrew Duncan (740), Cllr Bill Collentine (706), and Gerry Heery in sixth.

In close pursuit and still in contention for the last of six seats are Julie McCourt from Sinn Fein (468), and Fidelma Bennett (418).

Cllr Hazel Smyth is in ninth with 335 first preference votes but, as happened in 2019, she could benefit yet from a large number of transfers.

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3.00

MOATE LEA

It looks as if it will be a battle between Liam McDaniel and Michael O'Brien for the last seat in the Moate LEA. Both Tom Farrell (FG) and Vinny McCormack (FF) look set to be elected on the first count, as both candidates are polling strongly according to the tallies, the candidates have 1,803 and 1,530 first preference votes respectively.

Johnnie Penrose is not far behind the two poll toppers with 1,172 and looks as if he will do very well out of transfers.

The fight for the last seat is becoming very interesting as there appears to be very little between Independent Michael O'Brien on 865 and Fianna Fáil's Liam McDaniel on 730. McDaniel is expected to get more of a boost as tallies from 'his area' are still to be added.

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2.40

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2.30

A very happy Kevin 'Boxer' Moran has arrived in Athlone. Moran looks as if he will top the poll in Athlone and well exceed the quota in doing so. The current tallies have the former TD on 2,904 first preference votes which is just under 2,000 more than the next highest candidate Aengus O'Rourke who is on 982.

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2.20

Paul Hogan admits that he has "hit the crossbar" as current indications show he will just fall short of a seat. Hogan is running in both the Moate and Athlone LEA. He currently holds a council seat in Athlone after he was co-opted to the council January 2022 to fill the vacancy left by Jamie Moran who resigned due to work commitments.

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1.35

Ciaran Mullooly now has the most first preferences from Westmeath voters in the European Elections at 1,373.

He’s followed by Barry Cowen (1,390) and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (1,036).

Nina Carberry (810) and Maria Walsh (785) of Fine Gael are also neck in neck for Westmeath voters.

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1.20

Things are looking good for most of the incumbents in Mullingar after 18 boxes have been opened with 13 left to go.

Cllr Ken Glynn is flying with 847 votes, followed by Cllr Mick Dollard (738), Cllr Aoife Davitt (632), Cllr Andrew Duncan (589) and Cllr Bill Collentine (530).

Hot on their heels is Fine Gael’s Gerry Heery with 456 first preference votes, who just narrowly missed out on a seat in 2019.

Meanwhile, Cllr Hazel Smyth of the Green Party is in 9th place with 248 votes and faces an uphill battle to keep her seat.

Smyth faced a similar situation at her first outing in 2019 but did very well on transfers, seeing her take the final seat available.

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1.10

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1:00

Word on the floor is the official count for Westmeath's local elections wont be taking place until around 6pm in Moate. It was initially estimated this would begin at 4pm.

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12.50

Cllr Tom Farrell is now out in front in Moate with a 26.9% first preference vote share after almost half the boxes have been opened.

He’s followed by Johnnie Penrose (23.9%), Vinny McCormack (20.4%), and Michael O’Brien (16%).

Last place so far is sitting councillor Liam McDaniel, the Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, with 1.7% of first preference votes.

It’s understood that ballot boxes in Kilbeggan are yet to be opened where things are likely to change for Cllr McDaniel.

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12:20

Kevin Boxer Moran in Athlone has now past 2,088 votes and has 4.7 per cent with 18 boxes open and 14 to go according to the tallies. He is likely to well exceed the quota and get elected on the first count when the ballots are counted in Moate.

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12:15

WATCH: Segregation and tallying of votes continues in Athlone.

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12:10

Fine Gael has had a disappointing performance in Kinnegad so far; with 12 boxes opened, Cllr Denis Leonard has a commanding lead of 1,107 first preference votes to Cllr Emily Wallace's 345 and Seamus McDermott, the brother of outgoing councillor Frank McDermott, back in sixth place with 206 votes.

Meanwhile, Brian Crum is doing well for Independent Ireland with 313 votes. He's followed by Alfie Devine (310) and Shauna Coyne (217) from Fianna Fáil.

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12:00

It's tight at the top in Mullingar after 38.7% of boxes have been opened.

The incumbents are doing well; Cllr Ken Glynn is on 537 votes and has just surpassed party mate Cllr Aoife Davitt on 501 votes.

Cllr Andrew Duncan has 460 votes, Cllr Mick Dollard has 454 and Cllr Collentine has 391.

Hot on the heels of the incumbents are Gerry Heery (348) and Fidelma Bennett (218).

It seems unlikely that Sinn Féin will gain a seat in Mullingar, while Cllr Hazel Smyth of the Green Party is facing an uphill battle to keep hers.

WARNING: It's still all to play for in Mullingar with the majority of boxes still opened.

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11:50

There's been a phenomenal rate of transfers to Barry Cowen TD from all parties at the tally in Athlone so far. Ciaran Mullooly is also polling well.

Nina Carberry is doing better here than her Fine Gael running mate Maria Walsh.

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11:40

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11:10

Topping the Mullingar poll so far is Cllr Aoife Davitt with 22.6% of first preference votes after six boxes have been opened.

Cllr Denis is top in Kinnegad with 27.6% of first preferences after eight boxes opened.

In Athlone, former Minister of State Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran has stormed out in front with 42.4% of first preferences after eight boxes opened.

Cllr Johnnie Penrose is on top in Moate with a 49.5% share of first preferences after six boxes have been opened there.

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10:55

Denis Leonard polling well for Labour in Kinnegad LEA. Not surprised at the relatively poor showing of the fringe candidates. His theory he says is that local voters wanted people concerned with the gamut of local issues and not just single issues which could resolve themselves in the near future.

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10:37

Former Sinn Féin candidate in Mullingar, Johnny Creagh says the party is doing well in Moate with John Lawlor and Conor Dowling-Linehan in Athlone both in contention for seats.

It’s been a sluggish start for the party in Mullingar where their two candidates are just outside the top eight on first preference votes with 13% of boxes opened.

It has been noted that boxes opened so far are from rural Mullingar areas and the party is hopeful of doing better within the town.

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10:35

Early tallies indicate former Indpendent TD Kevin 'Boxer' Moran to be polling very well after 5 of the Athlone boxes have been opened.

Athlone 5/27 boxes opened

Boxer Moran (IND) 699

O’Rourke (FF) 272

Keena (FF) 141

Dowling-Lenihan (SF) 124

Dolan (FG) 110

Hogan (IND I) 93

Heavin (GP) 82

O’Donoghue (IFP) 51

Cleary (IND) 38

Keyes (FG) 41

Lennon (LB) 34

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10:15:

Minister Peter Burke says Government parties are “doing well” in Westmeath and Sinn Féin are “under pressure”.

Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen and independents Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan and Ciaran Mullooly are polling well from Westmeath voters in the European elections.

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10:05:

With 10% of boxes opened in Kinnegad, Cllr Emily Wallace is in poll position with a 22.1% share of first preference votes.

She’s followed by Fianna Fáil’s Alfie Devine with an 18.6% share and Cllr Denis Leonard with 12.8%.

Former Fianna Fáil senator Donie Cassidy is on the floor at TUS and says its “too soon to call” and that there’s “no emerging swing at the moment”.

However, he adds that “sitting councillors seem to be doing quite well”.

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10:00

After a number of boxes have been opened here are the latest tallies as of just before 10am:

Moate - 2/25 boxes opened

Penrose 305

McCormack 68

Farrell 47

Lawlor 25

Mullingar LEA - 2/30 boxes opened

Davitt 82

Duncan 44

Glynn 38

Collentine 24

Heery 22

Bennett 17

Kinnegad LEA - 3/27

Wallace 122

Devine 103

Leonard 71

McDermott 55

Coyne 53

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9:40

Good morning from the TUS Athlone Sports Arena where the local and European election ballots are currently being segregated. The Westmeath Examiner team will be keeping readers up-to-date with all the latest election news throughout the day here on our live blog.