We have enjoyed the best of the weather here in Munster throughout the day.
It is a crisp, clear, cold autumn evening, but that has not acted as an incentive to people to come out and exercise their vote in large numbers.
Certainly, by comparison with the last vote, the referendum on the Eighth Amendment, we are well behind those figures, although it has to be said that that referendum was particularly keenly contested on both sides which resulted, perhaps, in a higher turnout.
By way of comparison, the average turnout in the three Cork County constituencies in that referendum in May was 33% at teatime.
At teatime this evening, it was 22%. In Cork East, the turnout at teatime was 20%; in Cork North West it was 22% and in Cork South West it was it was 25%.
In Cork City, in places like Ballyvolane on the city's north side, turnout at just over 20 % at teatime was struggling to even meet that figure.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
There are some outliers: for instance, at Ballygunner, Waterpark and Mount Sion national schools in Waterford, turnout is between 26-30 % at teatime, but these are very much the exception, rather than the rule.
Turnout was struggling to reach 25% in much of County Tipperary by teatime.
Some turnout figures from County Kerry at teatime include Tralee, Listowel and Cahersiveen at 23 %, Killarney and Dingle at 30 % and Kenmare at 28 %.
In Limerick city, the figures range between 20-30%, while in the county it was 17% at Caherconlish, Herbertstown was 20 % and Hospital was 16 %.
We traditionally expect a rush to vote after people finish work. That might not materialise this evening.
In Cork, at least, lots of people will be putting on their dancing shoes for the Jazz Festival rather than packing their pens to go voting.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Connacht
Turnout is reported as slow in Galway despite the sunny autumn day.
In Galway West, incorrect numbers on polling cards delayed voting by 15 minutes in a number of polling stations as manual name searches had to be carried out.
In Roscommon/Galway, turnout only began to reach double figures at midday, with 10% in Castlerea and 11.8 % in the urban area of Athlone.
In the Galway part of the constituency, older voters are out in force in Ballinasloe, where 18% turnout is reported.
As of 5pm, across Roscommon and Galway, turnout was averaging 24%.
Turnout is slower in Mayo, averaging 9% but as low as 6% in some rural areas.
Polling got off to a very slow start in Sligo town, where some booths saw between just 1% and 2% of voters before 9am.
And in Sligo, things were still slow coming up to teatime. Unless there's a late surge, the final turnout figures will be very low. At 5pm, the turnout was only 11% in one booth in Cranmore, and it was 20% in the second booth there.
In another Sligo town station, they said they were nearly asleep for much of the afternoon. It was 23% there at 5.15pm, and normally they get a high turnout.
In Leitrim, it is also reported to be slow with staff at polling booths saying the voters so far have been mostly elderly with no rush of people voting on the way to work.
So you said you wouldn’t bother voting ? THINK AGAIN 105 year old Nancy Stewart voted at St Finian’s national school in Clonard, county Meath as witnessed by @ciaranmullooly @JimmyNorman for @rtenews #IVoted pic.twitter.com/NbkwccZAoP
— Ciaran Mullooly (@ciaranmullooly) October 26, 2018
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Leinster
The slow trend is similar in the midlands, with rural turnout reported to be very low so far.
People are continuing to flock to polling stations particularly since early evening time in county Laois to cast their votes in the presidential residential election and in the blasphemy referendum.
Figures from shortly before and up until 7.45pm shows the following turnout percentages. Ballyfinn was 39.5%, Stradbally was 35.5% Vickarstown was 35% Abbeyleix was 30% Rosenallis was 38.5% Portlaoise Rural was 36% and Portlaoise Urban was 31%.
The turnout in Offaly is lagging far behind the numbers who voted in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
By late afternoon in May, 36% had voted but today the average figure across polling stations sampled is 21%.
In Wicklow and Wexford, the range is from almost 30% in Greystones to around 20% in Enniscorthy and 22% in Wexford town.
Some polling stations in Carlow town this evening reported a tea time rush with commuters calling in to vote on their way home from work.
One Carlow town polling station reported a turnout of 40% by 8pm this evening. Earlier in the day polling had been very slow throughout the county with one rural polling station reporting a turnout of just 13% at 4pm.
Voting has been slow in Bagenalstown (Muine Bheag) all day with just a 31% turnout by 8 o'clock this evening.
Gorey town were at 19.6% turnout at nearly 6pm this evening.
Polling has been slow throughout the day in Carlow Town and County with a polling station in the Village of Ballon reporting a 13% turnout at 4pm this afternoon.
Some of the polling stations in Co Carlow say voting is beginning to pickup this evening with people voting on their way home from work.
In Tullow the turnout at 4.30 this afternoon was 17%.
At 4pm this afternoon, 16.7% of voters in Tullow in County Carlow had cast their vote, In Muine Bheag(Bagenalstown) the voter turnout at 4o'clock was 19%. In Carlow town one of the polling stations had an 18% turnout and in Ballon Village in Carlow the turnout at 4pm was 13%.
— Damien Tiernan (@damienrte) October 26, 2018
Dublin City constituencies ranged from turnouts of 48% in Dublin Bay North to just 28% in Dublin Central at 8pm.
The highest turnout at a city polling station was 51% in Bayside compared to 18% in the North Inner City.
In the county area the average turnout was 40% - both Blanchardstown and Clonskeagh had 44% while Neilstown had 26% with two hours left of polling.
By 5pm today Blackrock had the highest turnout at 38% while Ladyswell had the lowest at 10%.
In 2011, the highest turnout was part of Walkinstown with 40% and the lowest was Ongar on 12%.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
There has been an increase in voting in parts of the Louth constituency but overall it appears to be a low turnout.
The highest so far is 57% in Blackrock but an average drawn from 11 polling stations in north and mid Louth areas has polling at 35.8% at 8pm.
Other higher turnouts were 54% in Tinure and 41% in Rampark and 46% in Sandpit.
In Drogheda, three polling stations averaged a turnout of just over 36 percent% by 8pm this evening.
The highest in the town at 8pm was 44% in St Mary's parish school.
In East Meath, there was 37% turnout in Laytown, 33.3% in Donacarney, 42% on the Mill road and at Whitecross National School, where candidate Gavin Duffy voted earlier today, it was 36%.
In Ardee there was a 36% turnout in while in Dunleer it was 38%.
There has been no late rush to the polls in Meath East with an average turnout in the constituency approaching 30%.
Polling had been very slow in the Kells area all day however it's been busy there this evening bringing the turnout there to 30%.
In the commuter belt, Stamullen is also on 30%, Ashourne on 31% and Dunshaughlin on 32%.
The average in Duleek is only 27%.
In Kildare South, turnout was between 10% and 20% this evening after 5pm.
While in Kildare North later this evening, turnout was between 30% and 35%.
In Longford, the average turnout is 22-23% and described as very slow before 6pm this evening.
In Kilkenny as of 5.20pm, one of the booths at Cuffesgrange was at just 18%, while at Clinstown (Jenkinstown), it was at 31%.
Ulster
It is a similar picture in Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, with voters slow to come out.
One rural booth near Castleblayney had no one in during the first hour while other polling stations reported a slow trickle of voters this morning.
The average turnout in Cavan and Monaghan was around 20% close to 6pm.
The final voter turnout in Co Donegal looks likely to fall significantly short of 40%.
Two thirds of the way through polling day, less than 15% of the electorate had voted in Letterkenny.
Despite late evening surges in some areas, voting was particularly low in Letterkenny with one polling station reporting a turnout of less than 22% with two hours remaining to vote. This represents half of the turnout of the May referendum.
Voting in Buncrana had just hit 30% by 8.30pm while voting in Greencastle, the home base of presidential candidate Peter Casey, had tipped over 30%.
By late evening, voting had picked up in the border village of Newtowncunningham where 24% of voters had cast their ballot by 8.30pm.
And with 90 minutes to go, voting in Ramelton was at 34% while in the more rural parts of the Fanad and Rossguil peninsulas, polling stations were reporting an expected final turnout of just 33% with no last minute expected.
Almost 120,000 voters are eligible to vote in the county but by the close of polling tonight, it seems likely that turnout will scarcely reach 40%, significantly lower than the 48% turnout in the county for the 2011 presidential election.
Additional reporting John Kilraine, Ciaran Mullooly, Eileen Magnier and Elaine Keogh.
