.
Presiding officer Padraig Burke announcing the result of a count earlier.
MARTIN Ferris has overtaken Brendan Griffin in the race for the remaining seats in the Kerry constituency after the ninth count.
After the distribution of Michael ‘Pixie’ O’Gorman and Brian Finucane’s votes, the Ardfert man received 1,139 votes. This put him ahead of Griffin who only received 173 votes.
Ferris now has 11,722 with Griffin on 11,396, some way behind the quota of 13,203. Brassil is next on 9,495 ahead of Deenihan on 7,630, a difference of 1,865 between them.
Norma Moriarty of Fianna Fail has now been eliminated and her 5,392 votes are being distributed. This is likely to see Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin (for geographical reasons) and John Brassil (party reasons) benefit more than Ferris or Deenihan so it doesn’t look good at all for the Fine Gael man. (see result below)
Ninth Count result (distribution of Michael ‘Pixie’ O’Gorman and Brian Finucane’s votes in brackets)
John Brassil (FF) – 9,495 (253)
Jimmy Deenihan (FG) – 7,630 (304)
Martin Ferris (SF) – 11,722 (1,139)
Brendan Griffin (FG) – 11,396 (173)
Norma Moriarty (FF) – 5,392 (140)
Arthur Spring (Lab) – 5,877 (276)
