Meath Decides: Connolly is 10th President of Ireland with landslide victory
Catherine Connolly will be the 10th President of Ireland after a resounding victory over Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys.
In a seismic day for Irish politics, Independent candidate Connolly is predicted to win 64 per cent of the vote with spoiled ballots set for an historic high.
The official Meath West Figures were following the national trend and as follows:
Total Electorate: 64,923
Total Poll: 28,736
Spoiled Votes: 4,560 (16 per cent)
Valid Poll: 24,176
Catherine Connolly 15,477 (64 per cent)
Jim Gavin* 1,684 (6.9 per cent)
Heather Humphreys 7,015 (29 per cent)
The official Meath East Figures were also following the national trend and are as follows:
Total Electorate: 83,326
Total Poll: 38,678
Spoiled Votes: 5,512 (14 per cent)
Valid Poll: 33,166
Catherine Connolly: 20,772 (62 per cent)
Jim Gavin*: 2,498 (8 per cent)
Heather Humphreys: 9,896 (30 per cent)
*withdrew from campaign.
Full tallies taken earlier this morning in Meath West and East that showed the contest to be over before it began with the Galway woman pushing 52/53 per cent across the two constituencies with failed Fianna Fail candidate Jim Gavin on 6/7 per cent.
Counting at Trim GAA and Donaghamore Ashbourne GAA - the count centres for Meath West and Meath East were wrapped up mid-afternoon with Returning Officer, Des Foley (MW), announcing the result at 3.20pm followed shortly after by Kevin Martin in Meath East.
A major talking point of this election has been the volume of spoiled votes: Meath West, according to tallies and officially confirmed had 16 per cent while Meath East tallies were also 16 per cent. The national figure for spoiled votes was expected to be much higher.
Sinn Fein's Navan Cllr Eddie Fennessy whose party opted to support Independent candidate Catherine Connolly said the result was emphatic and was "a victory for the ordinary people of Ireland. The workers, their families. People with disabilities, their carer's. The young, the old and everyone in between."
"We put a huge effort into the campaign right across the county. My focus was on the Navan area. We we're out engaging with people everyday for over four weeks.
"Our campaign group covered a lot of ground. I would like to give special mention to Gerry Collins, Eileen Shiels, Christy McQuillan and Mary Sherlock, all of whom went above and beyond to secure this historic result.
"Catherine Connolly's manner and how she carries herself is what impressed people most. She is learned, dignified and bristling with substance, I'm sure she'll make a great president. I am proud to have played a small part in her election victory."
Meath East Sinn Féin TD Darren O'Rourke said that the Presidential election tally is "a stunning result for Catherine Connolly".
"She was an amazing candidate with a positive vision for the Presidency – a neutral Ireland, a united Ireland, and she is a voice independent of government.
"I want to thank Sinn Féin activists and supporters across Meath East. They put in a huge effort for Catherine and I'm glad to see that that effort has paid off. The combined opposition in Meath East and tens of thousands of ordinary people delivered an historic result."
McEntee says she looks forward to working with Connolly
Deputy leader of Fine Gael Helen McEntee said it looks as though Catherine Connolly will be elected president.
Speaking from the count centre in Ashbourne, Co Meath, she congratulated Ms Connolly and said she looked forward to working with her.
She said she was proud to support Heather Humphreys, adding that she ran "a really positive and forward looking campaign".
"We are the only party that put forward a candidate ... the party got behind her and as with any election, afterwards when the dust settles and we see the final result we'll reflect on the election and where we go from here."
Tóibín: 'There is a major problem with Irish politics'
Aontú leader and Meath West TD, Peadar Tóibín has said one of the big stories of this election is the number of spoiled votes, of which his ballot was one.
"If the spoiled votes come in ahead of Heather Humphreys, it will be a political earthquake. It will be two fingers to the political establishment by a big chunk of people," he told RTE.
Deputy Tóbín said there is a "major problem" in Irish politics and he is worried that the parties are not listening to it.
"A whole section of Irish society do not feel that they have a voice within the system, do not feel that they have a horse in the race, and that's dangerous. That leads to polaristation if that's allowed to continue," he said.
"Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael engineered this high level of spoiled votes and the low turnout in this election. They have to take responsibility for that and I believe there are enormous questions to be asked of Micheál Martin and Simon Harris now."
Deputy Tóibín wished Ms Connolly luck and said he has "no doubt" she will be a good president.
Meath West: Deputy Johnny Guirke of Sinn Fein rounded on former party colleague and fellow constituency TD, Peadar Toibin after the Aontu leader said he had spoiled his vote.
"Typical Toibin sitting on fence, no wonder his party is known as Abstaintu, coming out saying he spoilt his vote. The only reason he is doing that he thinks is because he will tap into unease among people who did spoil their vote and looking for attention for himself.
"Last week he was in the Dail speaking about voting rights for people in North and Irish citizens abroad and now he comes out and spoils his own vote. People in the North would give their right hand to have vote and not spoil it. Hope people see through Tóibín for what he is all about himself."
That sparked a quick reposte from Deputy Tóibín who said:
"The turn out in Meath West has collapsed by 10 per cent since the last Presidential election in 2018. Of those who did vote 16 per cent directly spoiled their vote. Seven per cent voted for Gavin.
"Many of these were spoiled votes. Many of these people are former SF voters. Rather than address the shocking democratic deficit in the country and try to fix it, Guirke simply exercises an old political grudge. There is a significant section of Irish society who feel excluded. Its the responsibility of all TDs to try and fix this."
Independent President-Elect Catherine Connolly said she was "absolutely delighted" after early figures from around the country suggest she is on course to become Ireland's tenth president later today.
Speaking at a count centre in Galway on Saturday morning, Ms Connolly thanked her supporters.
"I want to thank everybody, even those that didn't vote for me.
"I understand their concerns in relation to who will represent them best."
More to follow...