Michael Lowry is racing ahead in the tallies in the Thurles count centre after 23% of boxes have been accounted for.
The Thurles TD is sitting on 3,030 votes, ahead of second place Ryan O'Meara on 1,371.
This is before many of the Thurles votes have been accounted for, with Thurles making up the smallest proportion of the votes tallied so far (14%).
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