Sorting out the votes at the count centre at John Mitchels GAA Complex on Saturday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
By Dermot Crean at John Mitchels GAA Complex
A FIRST count for the Tralee Electoral Area is likely to be announced later tonight with Sinn Fein sitting pretty on top of the poll according to tallies.
From the 51 boxes opened in Killarney earlier, tallies suggest that Toireasa Ferris and Pa Daly are set to easily win seats with 16.8% and 13.3% respectively.
Trailing them are Norma Foley of Fianna Fail on 9.6% and Labour’s Terry O’Brien on 8.3%.
Two Fine Gael candidates follow with Jim Finucane on 7.8% while in sixth place is Pat McCarthy on 7.3%.
If the tallies are right it looks like Mac could be back with Thomas McEllistrim on 6.7%.
Labour’s Graham Spring is in 8th position, at 5.6%, Fianna Fail’s Ted Fitzgerald is 9th on 5.2%, followed by Sam Locke, Independent at 5.1%.
Trailing for those precious seats are Johnnie Wall, Grace O’Donnell, Tommy Collins, and Gillian Wharton Slattery, but these are just tallies so there’s nothing certain for a long time yet.
However with an estimated quota of 1,594, it’s possible that we could see a couple of people hoisted on top of shoulders by the end of the night.
