Nearly 62,000 voters in Offaly but low turnout expected

THERE are 61,882 people on the register in the Offaly constituency for Friday's presidential election.

Polling stations will open at 7am and close at 10pm but voters in Mountbolus are being reminded that they will be casting their ballots in The Ard Aoibhinn Centre in the village (R35 K3K6), not Killoughey Community Centre as was the case in previous elections. The move will affect an estimated 1,000 potential voters.

Turnout nationwide was just 44% for the last presidential election in 2018 and the numbers voting on this occasion could be even lower after a campaign which saw the withdrawal of Fianna Fail candidate Jim Gavin result in just two people on the ballot paper with an interest in succeeding Michael D Higgins, Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys.

There has been very little visible active campaigning on the ground in Offaly by the candidates, though all three were at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan last month.

Mr Gavin was at the Ploughing prior to exiting the race for the Aras when it emerged he had failed to pay back a former tenant who overpaid his rent at a house the former Dublin football manager was letting. Mr Gavin repaid the money after announcing his withdrawal from the campaign but his name remains on the ballot paper.

Offaly Fine Gael TD John Clendennen has been urging voters to give their first preference to Heather Humphreys and has been leading campaign teams in Birr and Edenderry and at county GAA championships matches in O'Connor Park, Tullamore.

The Fine Gael candidate has been attacking Deputy Connolly for employing a woman with a weapons conviction in Dail Eireann.

Ursula Ní Shionnáin (Shannon) was sentenced to six years in prison after the non-jury Special Criminal Court found her guilty of possession of two handguns and 32 rounds of ammunition at The Tackle Shop, Tullybeg, Rahan on November 27, 2012.

At the time Ms Ní Shionnáin was a member of the republican party Eirigi. Her trial heard gardaí were in receipt of confidential information that a stolen vehicle would be used as part of an operation by dissident republicans for a theft at a property in Co Offaly.

The trial heard Ms Ní Shionnáin and one of her accomplices were wearing wigs to disguise their identity. A plan to steal guns from the shop in Rahan was foiled when gardai surrounded a van and made arrests.

Deputy Connolly stood by her decision to employ Ms Ní Shionnáin, saying she had been rehabilitated by her time in prison for the Offaly offence.

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Counting of the Offaly votes will take place on Saturday in St Brendan's Community School, Birr and the local returning officer is the Offaly county registrar, the barrister Rory Hanniffy.

To vote in a presidential election, you must be an Irish citizen, aged over 18, registered to vote and ordinarily resident in Ireland.