Independent councillor Catherine Murphy has taken the lead in the Kildare North by-election count with 8,809 votes - 34.5% of the votes.

VOTER turnout for the Meath and Kildare by-elections was lower than expected as polling stations closed last night.

Voters go to the polls this morning in the Meath and Kildare North constituencies in two eagerly-awaited by-elections.

BERTIE broke bread one last time with his candidates ahead of the Meath and Kildare North by-elections yesterday. Or, more accurately, he broke pancakes.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen last night attempted to curtail speculation that Fianna Fáil had given up hope on its North Kildare by-election candidate, Aine Brady, by insisting she still had a chance of winning.

NORTH Kildare needs “a player on the pitch, not a hurler on the ditch”, says Aine Brady, the Fianna Fail candidate in Friday’s by- election.

FINE GAEL and Labour moved closer to an eventual general election pact yesterday when the two parties decided to canvass together in Kildare.

FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton is expected to come out with a public endorsement next week of the Fine Gael candidate seeking to win his seat in the Meath by-election.

A voting pact between Fine Gael and Labour in the upcoming by-elections may be a dress rehearsal for a proposed coalition deal prior to the next general election, it was claimed today.

THE Disability Bill will be seen as a betrayal of the disability movement. It provides neither a rights-based service nor the resources for such a service.

The Labour party will be running local Naas councillor Paddy McNamara as its candidate in the North Kildare by-election.

FIANNA FÁIL are in with a chance of holding their only seat in Kildare North following Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy’s departure to Brussels to become Ireland’s EU Commissioner.