Almost half of Cavan-Belturbet boxes opened

Fay leading tallies with 44% of boxes opened.

With close to half (44%) of the boxes opened in Cavan-Belturbet, even a vague picture is beginning to emerge of who might claim one of the six seats available. The caveat however is that none of the 10 boxes from Cavan Town centre itself have been opened, with seven of the 12 candidates total living next or near to the MD's main urban centre.

Turnout at St Clare's in Cavan Town was short of 40 per cent by the time polling stations closed.

The vast majority of the boxes opened are those in the west of the county, where Brendan Fay (Independent) sits on 23.6 per cent, Fianna Fáil's Áine Smith is on 20.7 per cent, followed by Sinn Féin's Damien Brady, John Paul Feeley (FF) and Fine Gael's Peter McVitty, all in or around the mid-teens.

The next nearest to them is Niamh Brady (FF) on 4.6 per cent.