Presidential Election: Live Updates from Meath West & East
Counting in the Presidential Election is under way at 32 count centres, with ballot boxes opened at 9am.
Independent Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys will have to wait hours before the official result is declared, but Heather Humphreys has already conceded deafeat to her Independent rival. Fianna Fáil's Jim Gavin withdrew from the election earlier this month, but his name remained on the ballot paper.
Follow our live blog for updates with GAVAN BECTON at the Count Centre in Meath West & EOIN RYAN at the COUNT CENTRE in Meath East.
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2.30pm:
Humphreys congratulates Connolly on 'becoming next President of Ireland'
Heather Humphreys has congratulated Catherine Connolly on "becoming the next President of Ireland".
"Catherine will be a president for all of us and she will be my president and I really would like to wish her all the very, very best."
"I have absolutely not one regret," Ms Humphreys added.
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3.30pm- Meath East: 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
3.20pm- Meath West: 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)
*withdrew from campaign.
2.20pm- Meath West: Deputy Johnny Guirke of Sinn Fein has arrived in the Meath West Count Centre and rounded on former party colleague and fellow constituency TD, Peadar Toibin said he had spoiled hius 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."
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."
2pm- Meath East: All boxes have been tallied with Connolly having more than twice the number in comparison to Humphreys. The results are as shown:
Connolly 62.3%
Humphreys 29.9%
Gavin 7.8%
Spoiled 15.5%
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."
1.30pm - Meath East: 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."
12.30pm - Meath West: Interesting sidenote is that Jim Gavin (remember him?) could recoup his election expenses - a sizeable sum of €250,000 - if the failed Fianna Fail candidate hits the threshold of 12.5 per cent. A candidate who gets 12.5% of the vote is entitled get expenses repaid.
Jim Gavin quit the race as Fianna Fáil candidate in early October and there was some speculation that a grassroots surge for the former Dublin Football manager would materialise.
From tallies so far however its seems Mr Gavin will fall short of the threshold.
Complete tallies from many areas show him still under 10 per cent. In Meath West that figure is 6 per cent. Money gone.
12.15pm - Meath West: Aontú leader and Meath West TD, Peadar Tóibín has said one of the big stories of this election is the number of spoiled votes.
"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 Tóbín wished Ms Connolly luck and said he has "no doubt" she will be a good president.
12pm - Meath East: All 136 boxes have been opened and of the 38,678 votes, a 46.4% turnout, Connolly has 53 per cent, Humphreys 25 per cent, and 16 per cent have spoiled their vote.
12pm - Meath West: 18 per cent of voters in the Navan Electoral Area spoiled their ballots, according to the final Meath West tally, 16 per cent in Kells and 14 per cent in Trim did likewise.
11am - Meath East: as staff head for a coffee break Over 18,000 votes have been tallied in Meath East with Connolly having almost double the votes of Humphreys so far and 16 per cent votes have been spoiled so far.
Total Votes - 18451
Valid Votes -15510
Spoiled - 2941
Connolly - 9,515 (61.35%)
Gavin - 1,228 (7.92%)
Humphreys - 4,767 (30.74%)
11am - Meath West: Gone quiet here now the Trim GAA Count Centre as staff head off for a coffee break. 16 per cent of spoiled votes here with news that spoiled ballots are outpolling Heather in Dublin.
With 50 per cent of the boxes tallied...
Catherine Connolly - 6317 (52%)
Heather Humphreys - 3238 27%
Jim Gavin - 691 (6%)
Spoiled - 1941 (16%)
10.45am- Meath West: Digging a bit deeper into the tallies and St Paul's NS in Navan recorded a staggering 25 per cent of spoiled ballots:
Catherine Connolly - 107 (51%)
Heather Humphreys - 40 19%
Jim Gavin - 10 (5%)
Spoiled - 54 (25%)
Nowhere in the early tallies does Humphreys come close to making it a contest.
10.45am - Meath East: 48 per cent of the vote has been tallied so far with Connolly showing a staggering lead over Humphreys.
Box from Kentstown show:
Connolly 152
Gavin 12
Humphreys 49
Spoiled 43
Box from Stamullen show:
Connolly 197
Gavin 13
Humphreys 61
Spoiled 37
10.30am - Meath West: With almost 25 per cent of the boxes now tallied in Meath West:
Catherine Connolly 3445 - 53%
Heather Humphreys 1639 - 25%
Jim Gavin 375 - 6%
Spoiled 1053 - 16%
See #CatherineConnolly greets & thanks supporters at #GalwayWest Count Centre “the pride is coming” she says @RTERadio1 @rtenews #aras25 pic.twitter.com/TsskgbwLdY
— John Cooke (@johncookeradio) October 25, 2025 " id="link-33f32045b1aa062cd9506c8bdafc4a78" target="_blank">here Catherine Connolly thanking supporters at Galway WestSee @catherinegalway in Donegal. Some polling stations showing Catherine taking more than 10 times the votes of Humphreys. #Aras25 pic.twitter.com/8fheD4xS4X
— Pearse Doherty (@PearseDoherty) October 25, 2025 " id="link-73cb5fb0b4b0d2ef28096c050711e56a" target="_blank">here some polling stations in Donegal showing Catherine Connolly getting more than ten times the votes of Heather Humphreys.10.15am- Meath East: the first boxes have been opened with Connolly on 60 per cent, Humphreys on 30 per cent, and Gavin on 9 per cent. So far 18 per cent of the votes were spoiled and one of the boxes had more spoiled votes than votes for Humphreys.
Currently the boxes show:
Total votes cast 5027
Total valid votes 4106
spoiled votes 921
Connolly 2,497
gavin 369
Humphreys 1,240
Turnout in Meath East was approximately 46.5 per cent, roughly 38,000 out of a possible 83,000 votes.
10am - Meath West: The first 10 boxes opened in Meath West and Connolly on 64 per cent with Humphreys on 20 per cent.
Box from St Anne's NS and the Trim Road area show:
Connolly 182
Humphreys 76
Gavin 23
Spoiled: 37
Meanwhile another box opened from St Mary's polling station in Enfield shows there were nearly double the amount of spoilt votes as those case for Heather Humphreys:
Connolly 133
Humphreys 40
Gavin 20
Spoiled: 73
9.30am - Meath West: Returning Officer Des Foley, officially started the count at 9am and indicated that it will be mid morning (10.30/11am) before the ballots are sorted and the first count can commence. All eyes will be on the amount of spoiled ballots cast.
Turnout in Meath West was approximately 41.5 per cent, roughly 27,000 out of a possible 65,000 votes.
There are 106 boxes to be opened here in the Count Centre in Meath West with over 90 counters and supervisors present.
9.30am- Meath East: Returning Officer Kevin Martin officially started the count at 9am. Spoiled votes and votes for Jim Gavin are something to note for this year's count.
9am - Meath West: Ballot Boxes are being opened in here in Meath West with Returning Officer Des Foley optimistic that a first count will be completed by early afternoon. First order of the day is to get all boxes opens and ballots sorted. Fine Gael and Sinn Finn members are here in Trim GAA conducting tallies.