Recount called in North Tipperary
The full recount of ballots will begin tomorrow morning at 11am
A full recount will be conducted for North Tipperary after two candidates from the same Municipal District ended up in the extraordinary situation of only a handful of votes separating them.
The issue arose after the ninth count when Thurles Independent Jim Ryan (6,632 votes) polled only seven votes behind Roscrea's Fianna Fáil candidate Michael Smith (6,369 votes) after the transfers from Michael Lowry's surplus were distributed and those of eliminated Fine Gael candidate, Phyll Bugler.
Two full checks of the of Bugler's votes resulted in a contradictory figure which put Michael Smith ahead by only two votes.
After the ninth count Fianna Fáil candidate from Cloughjordan, Ryan O'Meara stands at 1,412 votes of the next closest candidate, indicating it's all to play for yet in North Tipperary with three candidates slugging it out for the third and final seat.
Labour's Alan Kelly is poised to take the second seat and currently stands at 11,088, just short of meeting the quota.
Tipperary's Returning Officer, James Seymour, adjourned the count at 21:45pm and focus now turns to rechecking ballots searching for any errors that may influence the final result.
Counting resumes in Thurles at 11am tomorrow morning (Monday Dec 2).