Election watch: Latest turnout figures from around the county
After something of a slow start, many polling stations across the three local electoral areas (LEAs) in County Roscommon have experienced a surge since early evening.
Activity at polling stations in the main population areas remains very brisk since teatime with turn-out in Castlerea town now at about 55%, up more than 25% since 4 p.m..
Turnout in Ballaghaderreen town is also buoyant at about 50% while footfall at polling stations in Boyle (42%), Roscommon (41%) and Athlone (42%) has gathered momentum over the last few hours.
Reports of voter activity in some rural areas indicate that turnouts could be slightly lower than in the more urban areas.
37 candidates are competing in three LEAS (Roscommon, Boyle and Athlone) for 18 seats on Roscommon County Council.
Approximate turnout at about 8.30 pm:
Castlerea: 55%
Ballaghaderreen: 50%
Athlone: 42%
Boyle: 42%
Roscommon: 41%
The pace of voting across the county has picked up considerably since this morning, according to latest turnout figures.
The Castlerea area has seen the biggest increase in voting, more than doubling its turnout figure from earlier this morning to almost 28%.
The footfall into polling stations in the Athlone area, which comprises both urban and rural polling stations, along with stations in Ballaghaderreen have also increased considerably, with current turnouts of almost 26% and 25.2% respectively in these areas.
Since this morning, Boyle has almost doubled its turnout figure, which stands at 22.7%.
Meanwhile, Roscommon Town polling booths are seeing a lot more activity following a very sluggish start this morning, with turnout now at just over 21%.
Voting for the Local and European Elections got underway this morning at 104 polling stations across the county.
Turnout, which had been relatively slow this morning in many areas of the county, has started to pick up slightly over the last number of hours.
In the main towns, Ballaghaderreen in West Roscommon, with a figure of 12.3% recorded at local polling stations, has seen the highest turn-out so far at about midday, followed by the other West Roscommon town of Castlerea on 11.8% and Boyle, in North Roscommon, on just over ten per cent.
Some polling stations in the south of the county, which includes rural and urban areas such as Kiltoom and Monksland, have seen turn out go into double figures, at more than ten percent.
The turn-out has been fairly sluggish though in the county town, Roscommon Town, with a turn out figure of 8.2% recorded at about midday.
37 candidates are competing for the 18 seats on Roscommon County Council.
Some of the interesting things to keep an eye out for: Can the Independent candidates retain their strong form again as they won half the seats in 2019; can Fianna Fail hold onto to their six council seats while Fine Gael, with just two outgoing councillors, will be hoping for a better day at the polls this time.
It will be also interesting to see how Sinn Féin performs, whose sole outgoing councillor is retiring.
They are running six candidates, half of which are female.
A record 27 candidates are standing for the European Parliament elections in the Midlands North-West constituency, which take place alongside today's Local Elections.
The large constituency comprises 15 counties, including Roscommon.
Voting started at 7 o'clock this morning, and polling stations are open until 10 o'clock tonight.
