Huge counting operation to begin on Saturday after polls close

More than 132,000 Meath residents will be entitled to vote when polling in the local and European elections takes place this Friday in polling stations around the county. Polling opens at 7am and will continue until 10pm with a total of 98 candidates running for seats on the county"s four local authorities and 11 running in the elections to the European Parliament. Voters are asked to bring their polling card and proof of identity to their nominated polling station. A massive count operation will begin on Saturday at four centres in the county, while counting in the European elections will take place in Punchestown, Co Kildare - a break from the tradition where the Ireland East count always took place in Meath. Votes in the five electoral areas of Meath County Council will be counted at the new Trim GAA Centre, while the Trim Town Council election count will take place in the nearby Trim Leisure Centre. Candidates in the Navan Town Council elections will learn of their fate at the count at the Simonstown GAA Centre, while counting in the Kells Town Council elections will takes place in the GAA Centre in Kells. Bill Sweeney is the returning officer for Meath County Council and will oversee the huge count operation with five deputy returning officers, Kevin Stewart (Slane), Brendan McGrath (Dunshaughlin), Michael Griffin (Kells), Larry Whelan (Trim) and Martin Rogers (Navan). When the doors open at the county council count centre in Trim on Saturday morning at 9am, 100 staff will be involved in the seperation of votes while 65 will be involved in the count proper. Each candidate will be issued with five passes to access the centre and, according to Mr Sweeney, a first count result is unlikely before late afternoon. It is expected counting will finish at 10pm on Saturday evening and will resume again on Sunday at 10am. In the Dunshaughlin area, an electorate of 33,198 will have a choice of 17 candidates, running for seven seats. In the Kells electoral area, a total of nine candidates are running for five seats with 22,590 residents entitled to vote. The Navan area has a total electorate of 29,817 and 18 candidates will be looking for seven seats, while the 26,347 entitled to vote in Slane will have 14 candidates to choose from for six seats. There are four seats available in the Trim electoral area with nine candidates vying for them. A total of 20,416 people will be entitled to vote in the Trim electoral area. Meanwhile, in the Navan Town Council elections, where 18 candidates are chasing nine seats,17,541 residents are entitled to vote. Counting begins in Simonstown at 9am and returning officer, Shane Donnelly, will have a count staff on hand of 20. A first count result is expected in the late afternoon. In Kells, returning officer Jarlath Flanagan will have four enumerators. With a total electorate of 3,700, a first count result is expected around lunchtime, while in the Trim Town Council count, there are 5,600 eligible voters amd returning officer Brian Murphy and his deputy will have four count staff on hand.