Ganley causes recount ruckus in North West

A recheck of will take place later this morning at the North West count centre in Castlebar following a meeting between Libertas candidate Declan Ganley and the returning officer late last night.

It’s understood it will take up to three hours to complete.

After the result of the first count was announced with Marion Harkin was in the lead at almost 85,000 with Declan Ganley in fourth place with over 70,000 first preference votes, the Libertas founder sought a meeting with the returning officer.

After lengthily discussions Mr Ganley explained that he had raised a concern with the returning officer about votes contained in a number of wheelie bins and whether they were placed in the correct pigeon holes.

Earlier, it was heard that there was a concern that a number of bundles of Ganley's votes may have been placed in the wrong pigeonholes.

The returning officer confirmed that the recheck would be happening in the morning.