TALLIES: Independent Dolan the talking point of Ballinasloe

With around half of the boxes tallied for the Ballinasloe electoral area, the performance of Independent candidate in Ballinasloe town, Aisling Dolan, is the main talking point at the moment.

Granted, the majority of boxes opened so far would certainly be in her favour, but she is proving by far to be the strongest town candidate.

She has commanded almost 14% of the vote so far and will certainly be challenging for a seat. The polltopper in 2014, Timmy Broderick (Ind), is polling steady once again and while he may not achieve the 3,200 votes five years ago, he looks fairly safe.

The same can be said of Sinn Fein’s Dermot Connolly, who is also expected to be returned to the six-seat electoral area.

Indeed Connolly could well be the only Sinn Féin candidate elected in the whole city and county give the party’s poor showing on this occasion.

Fianna Fáil’s Michael Connolly did not poll as well as expected in Ballinasloe town, but should secure a seat for the party. His running mates Kenneth O’Brien in Glenamaddy and Ballinasloe’s Mike Kelly are not performing that well.

Fine Gael’s Mike Finnerty and Aidan Donohue are polling steadily but there is still a long way to go while Glenamaddy’s Peter Keaveney of FG, running in the Ballinasloe area for the first time, is performing well in his home base and is currently ahead of rival Declan Geraghty in Ballinasloe.