Information from tallies suggests three councillors who featured in the RTÉ Investigates 'Standards in Public Office' programme in December 2015 are in the hunt to get re-elected four years on.

In Monaghan, veteran councillor Hughie McElvaney is contesting as an independent in the Ballybay-Clones area.

A tally of all 36 boxes in the area has indicated he is on 1,126 first preference votes, almost 14% of the vote. Mr McElvaney is one of six candidates vying for one of the five seats in the area.

In Donegal, John O'Donnell is contesting as an independent in the Milford area.

He looks set to top the poll in the smallest of Donegal’s seven electoral Areas, according to the final tally figures.

One in four voters in the smallest electoral area in the Donegal Constituency gave a first preference vote to the outgoing Kilmacrennan-based councillor.

Tallies suggest Mr O'Donnell has 25% of the vote, ahead of Fianna Fáil's Liam Blaney.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Sligo, Joe Queenan is contesting in the Ballymote-Tubbercurry area.

A sophisticated tally being compiled by IT Sligo shows that Mr Queenan has garnered over 1,700, around 11% of the first preference votes, and he is in the hunt to retain his seat.

All three came to national prominence when they featured in secretly recorded meetings with a reporter posing as a representative of a wind farm investment company in 2014.