Galway East: 4th Count: Connaughton quits politics
Published 27th Feb 2016, 17:28 GMT
The big news from the Galway East count centre in New Inn is that Deputy Paul Connaughton is quitting politics as he conceded defeat to his FG party colleague Ciaran Cannon.
There was shock when his vote dropped by almost 1,000 since the 2011 general election but account has to be taken of the fact that he lost more than 2,000 votes into the new Galway-Roscommon constituency
He confirmed that he will not even contest the forthcoming Seanad elections as he entered the count centre in a dejected state.
We have four counts completed and now Labour's Lorraine Higgins has been eliminated and her distribution of votes will boost Cannon's situation even further with Connaughton unable to bridge the gap between him and Cannon.
Meanwhile Sean Canney has edged closer to the quota with the independent candidate just over 1,000 votes off the magic figure.
FOURTH COUNT
Distribution of Annemarie Roche votes
Canney Sean IND +1124 10196
Cannon Ciaran FG +162 7832
Rabbitte Anne FF +400 7966
Connaughton Paul FG +123 6812
Keaveney Colm FF +304 6127
Higgins Lorraine LAB +390 5470
Higgins eliminated