ELECTION UPDATE: Sitting Councillor involved in dramatic recount gives his thoughts before the day ahead

The battle for the final seats in the Tullow LEA is heating up as 3 candidates are vying for spot on the council in the Carlow Local Elections 2024.

This comes after 21 year old, Ben Ward took the forth seat in Tullow on the 12th count last night.

The drama unfolded as in the 13th count the 3 reaming candidates were separated by 3 votes!

Brian O'Donoghue - 895

Jim Deane - 893

Catherine Callaghan - 892

Following the dramatically close count, a recount was set for Monday morning with that underway at the time of writing.

Sitting Councillor Brian O'Donoghue posted to his social media to talk about the dramatic events:

"Recount in the Tullow Area 
Hey everybody, the first thing I want to say is thank you for your support and your votes in this election. 
To my incredible family and friends who stood shoulder to shoulder with me for the last 48 hours, thank you, especially my wife Miriam and bump.
My friends, supporters and voters I am sorry that I haven’t been able to reply to all of the messages/texts you have sent just yet, but I will get to you as soon as I can. 
 To all the council staff, counters and your families, I am so sorry that you have to come back again after two very long days. Thank you for your hard work, democracy cannot function without you.
Catherine, Jim and I are separated by just 3 votes, it’s an unprecedented situation and to be perfectly honest, you’d want to be made of stone to not be overwhelmed by the emotion of it all. 
As it’s so close, a FULL RECOUNT has been called and that starts at 10am today.
No matter who you support, no matter your interest in elections, come to the count centre today and show your support for democracy, (and me!)
State of play:
Brian O’D votes: 895
Jim Deane votes: 893
Catherine’s votes: 892
Recount:
Youth Centre, Green Lane, Carlow
(Down the lane way after Sheehy motors/Circle K garage)

10am start and likely to take all day and most of tonight.
Hopefully, when this is all over I will still be your councillor.
I’d like to wish Catherine and Jim the best of luck. It’s a pity there can’t just be 7 seats.
Thanks all,
BOD."

You can follow all the news and updates live from the Carlow Local Elections 2024 on our live blog by following the LINK HERE.