Updated 7.15pm.
THE LONGFORD-WESTMEATH recount is back underway, it’s now the very last count of the general election.
Count staff were going until 2.30am this morning at the Keenagh sports hall when the returning officer decided to call a halt to the recount proceedings.
It got back underway around 12 hours later at 2.30pm this afternoon.
No-one’s making any estimates on when the process will be finally wrapped up, and there’s speculation it may yet end up in the courts.
What’s happening?
Ex-Fianna Fáiler and now-Independent Alliance councillor Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran was elected on the 13th count on Monday night.
FF’s Robert Troy had already won the first seat, way back on Saturday.
James Bannon, the Fine Gael TD, was granted a recount on Monday night as he attempts to avert his elimination.
If nothing changes, it looks like Fine Gael’s Peter Burke and Sinn Féin’s Paul Hogan will take the third and fourth seats.
That would Willie Penrose out in the cold, which would be terrible news for Labour as it would leave them with just six seats in the next Dáil and without speaking rights.
Junior minister Aodhán O Riordáin lost out on a seat in Dublin Bay North yesterday, as another days-long count concluded.
It’s reported Penrose was just a few votes ahead of Bannon after the last round. Teams from both sides are examining disputed ballots as the process continues.
Originally posted 7.45am.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say