Election 2024 results: Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly loses his Dáil seat

• Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has lost his Dáil seat after being eliminated in Wicklow in the early hours of Monday, the Government’s most high-profile casualty of the election.
• With counts in 39 of the 43 constituencies complete, 162 TDs have been elected. Counts in Louth, Cavan Monagan, Tipperary North and Kildare North are incomplete.
• Greens collapse: Leader Roderic O’Gorman took the last seat in Dublin West, making him the party’s only TD elected in the next Dáil.
• In Dublin Central, Marie Sherlock won the fourth and final seat in Dublin Central with Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch losing out.
• Results hub: See the live results for all 43 constituencies as they happen

Government suffers its most high-profile casualty of election

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has suffered a remarkable reversal in electoral fortunes after surging to a poll-topping performance in Wicklow as a member of the Social Democrats in 2016, gaining some 21 per cent of the vote.

After defecting to Fianna Fáil, he has now lost his seat in the early hours of Monday morning after failing to fend off Taoiseach Simon Harris’s running mate Edward Timmins. Read the full report from Carl O’Brien in Greystones here.

BREAKING: Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has lost his Dáil seat

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has lost his Dáil seat after being eliminated in Wicklow, reports Carl O’Brien.

Taoiseach Simon Harris’s running mate Edward Timmins was deemed elected without reaching the quota, securing a second seat for Fine Gael.

Donnelly, ultimately, was unable to narrow a gap with Timmins who benefited from a huge surplus from Harris, who topped the poll with more than 5,000 votes to spare.

The announcement was made following a marathon count at the Wicklow count centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow, which concluded at 5.25am on Monday morning.

State of Play at 5am: No path to government for Sinn Féin without FF or FG

Just 13 seats in the next Dáil remain to be filled as Monday morning breaks, with all but five constituencies finished counting.

Fianna Fáil is well on course to be the largest party with 43 seats, while Sinn Féin is on 36, and Fine Gael is just behind on 35.

There is almost no path to government for Sinn Féin without the support of one of the two other biggest parties.

The Social Democrats have 11 seats, while Labour is on nine, while 23 candidates under the banner of Independent/Others have been elected.

BREAKING: First seat taken in Cavan-Monaghan after marathon 43-hour count

Fine Gael’s David Maxwell became the first candidate to be elected in the marathon 43-hour count shortly before 4.20am, reports Seanín Graham.

Maxwell, an undertaker who has served as councillor in Monaghan town for 20 years, was elected on the 10th count after receiving more than 1,700 transfers from the distribution of Fianna Fáil’s Robbie Gallagher’s votes.

Maxwell secured 12,353 votes, exceeding the quota of 11,542. Counting resumes at 1pm tomorrow.

Donnelly narrows gap but still faces uphill battle

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has narrowed the gap with Fine Gael’s Edward Timmins but faces an uphill battle to retain his seat, writes Carl O’Brien.

In the 12th count of voting shortly after 4am on Monday, there were 1,080 votes separating Donnelly and Timmins following the distribution of Sinn Féin’s John Brady’s surplus. The gap is down from about 1,300 in earlier counts.

Timmins remains ahead on 7,551 votes followed by Donnelly on 6,471 votes.

Independent candidate Shay Cullen has been eliminated and his 6,406 votes are being redistributed and will determine where the final seat goes.

Timmins is expected to benefit to a greater extent. Cullen until recently was a Fine Gael councillor but left the party after failing to get selected to run in the general election.

Carlow-Kilkenny

Counting in this constituency is now complete with Fianna Fáil winning three seats – John McGuiness, Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere and Jennifer Murnane O’Connor.

Fine Gael has won a single seat through Catherine Callaghan, while Sinn Féin also has one seat through Natasha Newsome Drennan.

Longford-Westmeath

Robert Troy (FF) has been deemed elected after the distribution of Paul Hogan (Independent Ireland)’s votes in the 15th and final count pushed him beyond the quota, reports Stephen Farrell.

Micheál Carrigy (FG) was also elected despite not reaching the quota as there were no votes left to distribute and the next nearest candidate, Joe Flaherty (FF), had a smaller amount of votes.

This ends the count in Athlone for the Longford-Westmeath constituency with Flaherty losing his seat, and Fine Gael gaining a seat through Micheál Carrigy and the Independent candidate Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran returning to the national political scene.

SF’s John Brady re-elected in Wicklow as Donnelly battles for final seat

Sinn Féin TD John Brady has been re-elected in Wicklow while Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is still battling to hold on to the fourth and final seat, Carl O’Brien reports.

As a marathon count continued from 3am on Monday morning, Brady was elected on the 11th count with the help of transfers from fellow Bray-based candidate Independent Joe Behan.

Three of the constituency’s four seats are now filled.

Taoiseach Simon Harris topped the poll having been elected on the first count on Saturday night.

Jennifer Whitmore, the Social Democrats TD and childcare spokeswoman, took the constituency’s second seat at midnight on Sunday.

A tight race is unfolding for the fourth and final seat between Fianna Fáil TD Stephen Donnelly and the Taoiseach’s running mate, Fine Gael councillor Edward Timmins.

Timmins (7,482 votes) is 1,168 votes ahead of Donnelly (6,314 votes) and is favoured to take a second seat for Fine Gael. Independent candidate Shay Cullen (6,104) is also still in the race.

However, Donnelly has a slim chance and all will depend on where transfers from the remaining candidates go.

Brady’s 530-vote surplus is currently being calculated and, based on current trends, Cullen may be next to be eliminated.

Galway West

Independent candidate Noel Grealish has taken the fifth and final seat, edging out fellow Independent Noel Thomas by 9,649 to 8,749 after the 16th count, reports John Fallon.

Mairéad Farrell (SF), Independent Catherine Connolly and Hildegarde Naughton have also been returned, with Fianna Fáil’s John Connolly the only newcomer, after taking the seat vacated by Éamon Ó Cuív.

The state of play at 3am

Most of the make-up of the new Dáil is now known, with 153 of 174 seats have been filled, while 35 of 43 constituencies are now complete. Although progress continues to lag in some areas.

• Carlow-Kilkenny: 2 of 5 seats filled - Counting through the night.
• Cavan-Monaghan: 0 of 5 seats filled - Counting through the night.
• Galway-West: 4 of 5 seats filled - Final seat expected to be filled about 4am.
• Kildare-North: 2 of 5 seats filled - Eleventh count to start again at 9am.
• Longford-Westmeath: 3 of 5 seats filled - Counting through the night.
• Louth: 2 of 5 seats filled - Eighteenth count to start again at 10am.
• Tipperary North: 1 of 3 seats filled - Full recount to begin tomorrow morning.
• Wicklow: 2 of 4 seats filled - Counting ongoing through the night.

Marathon continues in Cavan-Monaghan

Fine Gael’s David Maxwell leapfrogged Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy to take the lead for the first time in the Cavan-Monaghan race shortly before 2am on Monday, Seanín Graham reports.

The five-seater constituency is the only one in the country where no one has been elected since counting began at 9am on Saturday.

There are now seven remaining candidates.

In what was the ninth count, Maxwell received more than 2,800 transfers following the distribution of running mate TP O’Reilly’s 6,425 votes.

An undertaker for the past 15 years, Maxwell is sitting at 10,565 votes followed by Carthy at 7,542 votes.

An hour earlier, former Fine Gael Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys visited Cavan Leisure Centre where she expressed confidence that Maxwell would replace her.

“I know he’ll do a great job and I’m delighted he’ll take over the mantle,” she told reporters.

Humphreys surprised her party after announcing in October that she would be joining a long list of Fine Gael TDs retiring from politics.

Asked about the drop in the Fine Gael vote in the constituency, she pointed out that when she won her seat for the first time in 2011, it was on the last count and by the “narrowest” of margins.

“I worked hard and I built that vote up – and I’ve no doubt that David Maxwell will do exactly the same,” she said.

Donegal

Charles Ward, the candidate who ran under the banner of “100 per cent Redress”, and Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue have taken the last two seats in Donegal.

They join Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn as well as Pat the Cope Gallagher in this five-seater, Stephen Maguire reports.

Galway West

It’s turning into a very late night in Galway West, where Noel Grealish looks set to hold his seat, John Fallon reports.

Grealish leads by 659 from fellow independent Noel Thomas with a surplus of 895 votes from Hildegarde Naughton to be distributed. Count 16 is now under way with a result expected coming up to 4am.

Longford-Westmeath

A visceral roar has erupted in the bowels of the John McCormack Centre, TUS Athlone, heralding the return of Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran to Dáil Éireann, writes Stephen Farrell.

The Athlone based representative received 195 votes from the surplus of Sorca Clarke (SF), which pushed him over the quota of 10,315 votes.

As the remaining 135 votes of Clarke’s surplus, which were yet to be distributed, cannot elect Robert Troy (FF), who is the highest remaining candidate, or save the expenses of the lowest candidate, Paul Hogan (Independent Ireland), or save Hogan from exclusion, the Independent Ireland candidate has been eliminated.

Hogan’s votes are now being distributed amongst the remaining candidates.

More from Galway West where counting is continuing through the night

Four out of five seats have now been filled with a long battle emerging for the final seat, reports John Fallon.

Independent Noel Thomas has picked up transfers and is set to challenge outgoing independent Noel Grealish. It has been a traumatic weekend for Cllr Thomas, whose father died on Friday and whose funeral Mass takes place on Monday morning.

Grealish leads Thomas by 583 votes, but there are surpluses of 1,836 from John Connolly and Hildegarde Naughton to play for.

Galway West

Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton has been elected for the third term in a row, with her party colleague Sean Kyne announcing his resignation from politics after failing to regain his seat for the second election in a row, reports John Fallon.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil’s John Connolly has been elected to the Dáil for the first time, holding on to the Galway West seat vacated by Éamon Ó Cuív.

Dublin Bay North

Asked would he support a Fianna Fáil/ Fine Gael government, new Independent TD Barry Heneghan said he would “discuss it with the kitchen Cabinet”.

The three newly elected TDs join poll-topper Cian O’Callaghan of the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin TD Denise Mitchell, who were comfortably returned.

It was an election count of twists and turns, writes Marie O’Halloran. Initial hopes for an Independent victory faded with the prospect for a time of a second Sinn Féin seat for Micheál MacDonncha. A surge in votes for Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Heney then put her into contention and kept her there until the 11th count.

However, the elimination of Aontú candidate James Morris and a 904-vote transfer put Cllr Heneghan ahead. His lead was consolidated further when he received 979 votes following the exclusion of Shane Folan who had faced an impossible challenge to retain Labour’s seat.

Louth

The count has been suspended until 10am later this morning, Jade Wilson reports.

No candidate reached the quota on what was the 18th count. John McGahon of Fine Gael was eliminated and his 4,587 votes are to be distributed at the next count.

Sligo-Leitrim

The count has concluded with the election of Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Scanlon and Independent Marian Harkin to the final two of four seats, reports Arthur Beesley.

Deputy returning officer Paraic O’Grady made the declaration shortly before 1am on Monday morning, almost 16 hours after counting restarted on Sunday morning. This followed a 15-hour count on Saturday.

Mr Scanlon was first home, drawing 318 votes from the 4,052-vote surplus of re-elected Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny. He accompanied by wife Anne, several grandchildren and cheered by a throng of supporters singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

“It’s was a great result, thanks to my supporters, canvassers and the people that supported me,” Mr Scanlon said.

Ms Harkin was accompanied by sons James and John and sisters Gráinne and Anne, her supporters singing We Are the Champions.

Her seat having been in jeopardy after a poor first-preference vote, Ms Harkin said the election was a rollercoaster. “There’s a lot of a hard work ahead. Tonight it all about celebrating. I’m hugely grateful.”

The final two successful candidates were deemed elected on the 13th count without reaching the quota.

Donegal

Pat the Cope Gallagher of Fianna Fáil has been elected on the 15th count in Donegal, reports Stephen Maguire. The 76-year-old returns after losing his seat in the 2020 general election. This is his 17th campaign.

Cork North Central

People Before Profit/Solidarity Mick Barry has been granted a recount in Cork North Central after losing out by 35 votes to Labour’s Eoghan Kenny, reports Barry Roche.

Longford-Westmeath

The second seat has been won by Sorca Clarke of Sinn Féin who received a remarkable 2,353 votes from her running mate Barry Campion, and thus exceeded the quota by 563 votes, according to Stephen Farrell on the scene.

This was vote management writ large, he writes.

As Clarke’s surplus votes can elect Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (Ind), they are now being distributed amongst the remaining candidates.

Dublin Bay North

We have three more elected TDs, reports Marie O’Halloran. They are Naoise Ó Muirí of Fine Gael, Independent Barry Heneghan, and Tom Brabazon of Fianna Fáil.

Cavan-Monaghan

Shortly before midnight, eight candidates remained in the race for the five-seater Cavan-Monaghan constituency, reports Seanín Graham.

No one has been elected in what is the slowest count in the country, and there is mounting speculation as to whether anyone will reach the 11,542 quota.

Despite receiving the highest number of transfers (1,307) from running mate Carmel Brady, Fine Gael’s TP O’Reilly was knocked out in the eighth count at Cavan Leisure Centre.

Matt Carthy maintains the lead at 10,257 votes, but Fine Gael’s David Maxwell has jumped to second place for the first time with 7,695 votes. Third is Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully, on 7,520 votes.

Wicklow

Jennifer Whitmore, the Social Democrats TD and childcare spokeswoman, has retained her seat in Wicklow, Carl O’Brien reports.

The Delgany-based candidate, first elected in 2020, has secured Social Democrats’ 11th seat so far in the 2024 general election.

Whitmore was elected on the ninth count to exceed the quota with more than 12,000 votes in total, after securing a large number of transfers from the Green Party’s outgoing TD Steven Matthews.

He was eliminated in the previous count on what has been a miserable weekend for the junior coalition partners.

Fine Gael is increasingly confident about taking a second seat in Wicklow at the expense of Fianna Fáil Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

Fine Gael west Wicklow councillor Edward Timmins has kept a gap of more than 1,300 votes on Donnelly after the ninth count.

Donnelly’s loss would represent the biggest scalp in the election so far.

He said earlier on Sunday that a strong “Government vote” for Simon Harris had impacted on his own chances of re-election.

“When you’re sharing a constituency and a hometown with a Taoiseach and moving from a five-seater to a four-seater – when you put those two things together, it obviously creates a lot of pressure,” he said.

Taoiseach Simon Harris topped the poll in the four-seat constituency, having been elected on the first count on Saturday night.

Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady, on 10,491 votes, is closing in on the quota of 11,415 votes and is set to take the third seat in the constituency.

Louth

In the 17th count, Joanna Byrne (Sinn Féin) is the second TD elected in the five-seater Louth constituency, reports Jade Wilson, after her party colleague Ruairí Ó Murchú was elected and his surplus votes redistributed.

Kildare North

Aidan Farrelly has retained the Social Democrats’ seat in Kildare North, elected after passing the quota on the 10th count, reports Fiachra Gallagher.

He held hands with former party co-leader Catherine Murphy during the announcement of his election. Ms Murphy served as a TD for Kildare North from 2011 and also between 2005 and 2007. She had announced in June that she would not be running in the general election.

Following a consultation with remaining candidates, returning officer agreed to suspend counting until 9am on Monday.

Dublin Bay North

The picture is changing in the capital too, where Independent Cllr Barry Heneghan has moved into the lead in Dublin Bay North after the 13th count, reports Marie O’Halloran.

He has overtaken Fianna Fáil Cllr Tom Brabazon after receiving 1,728 transfers from Sinn Féin candidate Micheál MacDonncha

Three seats remain to be filled but Cllr Heneghan’s prospects have been consolidated over the last two counts.

Initial predictions that an Independent would win the fifth seat were overturned with a surge in votes for Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Heney. However her hopes began to fade again when Cllr Heneghan moved ahead following a 904 vote transfer from Aontú candidate James Morris.

His position improved further with the transfer of almost 1,000 votes following the elimination of Labour’s Shane Folan.

Cllr Brabazon is on 8,423 votes followed by Naoise Ó Muirí on 7,115. Fine Gael’s second candidate Cllr Aoibhinn Tormey has been eliminated on this count.

Longford-Westmeath

Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (Ind) has edged closer to that coveted second seat position after he received 625 votes of the eliminated Gerry Warnock’s (Ind) transferable votes, reports Stephen Farrell.

Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy remains in third position on 9,438 votes.

Micheál Carrigy (FG) has jumped back up to fourth position on 8,680 votes with Sinn Féin’s Sorca Clarke dropping back to fifth on 8,525 votes.

In sixth position remains Joe Flaherty (FF), but still over 2,300 votes behind fifth place.

Donegal

It is going down to the wire in the northwest, Stephen Maguire reports.

Four candidates for the three final seats. It looks like Pat the Cope Gallagher, Charles Ward and Charlie McConalogue will take them, with sitting TD Thomas Pringle being the fall guy.

Disappointment for Gerry Hutch in Dublin Central earlier

One of the big stories of the day was veteran criminal Gerry Hutch’s narrow defeat in his bid for a seat in Dublin Central.

But how did it happen? Our crime correspondent Conor Gallagher has an analysis here.

Meanwhile, locals on the streets of inner-city Dublin were almost unanimous earlier this afternoon that Hutch’s support in the general election was rooted in a sense they have been the subject of deep-seated neglect in the corridors of Leinster House.

”Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t,” said 42-year-old Joy Partridge, who lives on Buckingham Street in the north inner city where Mr Hutch purchased his first property in the 1980s. “That was the way we looked at it.”

You can read the full report on what inner city Dublin had to say on the affair here.

Sligo-Leitrim

Sinn Féin’s Martin Kenny became the second elected TD on the 12th count, after the elimination of his running mate Chris MacManus, reports Arthur Beesley.

Kenny coasted backed to Dáil shortly before 11pm on Sunday after a huge transfer from running mate Chris MacManus, who delivered 5,215 of his 6,932 votes to the Leitrim-based incumbent TD.

Hoisted high by supporters and flanked by wife Helen, daughters Éabha and Claire and sons Eoin and Pearse, Kenny was jubilant after his re-election was declared. It was “certainly looking that way”, he said when asked whether Sinn Féin would be in opposition in the new Dáil.

“We almost got two candidates elected here in a four-seat constituency and we’re certain we have broken the mould and we intend to do that the next time,” he said.

“I think it’s very clear that teamwork comes together. We’re seeing the huge transfer, how Sinn Féin transferred to each other. It’s magnificent. I think it’s almost a 75 per cent transfer.”

Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Scanlon, Independent Marian Harkin and Independent Ireland Martin Clarke are in contention for the last two seats as Kenny’s 4,052 surplus is distributed in the 13th count.

Louth

Sinn Féin’s Ruairí Ó Murchú is the first TD elected on the 16th count in Louth, reports Jade Wilson.

There remain four seats left to fill in the constituency. Sinn Féin’s Joanna Byrne (9,912) or Labour’s Ged Nash (9,833) could be elected next.

Speaking to The Irish Times after his election, Ó Murchú said he was “absolutely delighted” to be elected, and the number of votes for his fellow Joanna Byrne was also an “endorsement to the local work of Sinn Féin” .

“Don’t get me wrong, would I wish the seats were higher, would I wish we were delivering three seats here, but I think the Sinn Féin message resonated…”

“We’re going to have conversations with all the other political parties,” he said, adding there was a “need for the progressive parties to work together”.

He said: “Obviously, Sinn Féin is a republican party, and it’s also about delivering a United Ireland. I think we’re closer than we ever have been in relation to that.”

Concerns mount for Stephen Donnelly in Wicklow

Fine Gael is increasingly confident they will take a second seat in Wicklow at the expense of Fianna Fáil Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, reports Carl O’Brien.

The party’s west Wicklow councillor Edward Timmins has kept a gap of almost 1,300 votes on Donnelly after the eighth count.

Local party campaigners say Timmins has a much clearer path to taking the final spot in the four-seat constituency on the back of transfers from the remaining candidates.

He is likely to do better from Shay Cullen, a former Fine Gael councillor based in Newtownmountkennedy, while Donnelly’s only hope is to gain more transfers from former Fianna Fáil TD Joe Behan and outgoing Green Party TD Steven Mathews, who is based in Donnelly’s hometown of Greystones.

Matthews was officially eliminated from the contest on the eight count and his 3,000-plus votes are currently being redistributed.

Taoiseach Simon Harris topped the poll in the four-seat constituency, having been elected on the first count on Saturday night.

Delgany-based Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore and Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady both set to retain their seats as they close in on the quota of 11,415 votes.

After count eight, the position of the candidates is as follows: Social Democrats’ Jennifer Whitmore (10,481); Sinn Féin’s John Brady (10,289); Fine Gael’s Edward Timmins (6,379); Fianna Fáil’s Stephen Donnelly (5,081); Independent Shay Cullen (4,775); Independent Joe Behan (4,447).

Longford-Westmeath

Following the 11th count and the distribution of Laura O’Neill’s (Aontú) transferable votes, the placings in the top five positions remain unchanged with some alterations in the amount of votes separating the candidates, reports Stephen Farrell.

Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (Ind) remains in second, with 179 votes now separating him from Robert Troy (FF) in third position.

Sorca Clarke (SF) occupies the fourth position on 8,315 votes while Micheál Carrigy (FG) holds the fifth position on 8,062 votes.

Outside the top five placings remains Joe Flaherty (FF) on 5,693 votes with what appears to be little if no hope of retaining his seat.

Limerick City

Sitting councillor Elisa O’Donovan of the Social Democrats has conceded to newly-elected Labour Party TD Conor Sheehan, who is also a sitting councillor, reports David Raleigh.

The pair had battled a nail-biting finish for the final fourth seat in Limerick City tonight.

At one stage there was but a single point between the two first-time candidates, but, in the end, it was Sheehan who secured victory on count 15 after building up a gap of 598 votes after receiving 1,643 transfers from fellow first-time candidate Dee Ryan of Fianna Fáil.

KERRY

Minister for Education Norma Foley has been elected along with party colleague Michael Cahill.

The state of play as of 10pm

Almost three quarter of the next Dáil’s seats have been filled as the count continues in several constituencies. In total, 128 out of the 174 Dáil seats have been filled.

Fianna Fáil is on 32, Sinn Féin is on 30, and Fine Gael is on 29.

The Social Democrats have nine seats, while Labour is on eight.

Fianna Fáil remains on course to be the largest party in the 34th Dáil and is in the hunt for as many as 47 or 48 seats.

Fine Gael is expected to win up to 38 seats.

Sinn Féin is widely expected to land on perhaps 40 seats or just under it.

It is expected that the Social Democrats could take 11 seats while the Labour Party has the possibility or taking as many as 11 seats if it makes a gain in Cork North Central.

Counting is expected to continue through the night in a number of constituencies, including Louth and Kildare North.

There is a full recount taking place in North Tipperary first thing tomorrow morning.

Embattled Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman strikes defiant tone

The Green Party leader earlier retained his seat in Dublin West, but he is the only Green Party candidate to secure election so far.

“We’ve had a really disappointing day today, but I think the evidence from this result is that the Greens are still here,” he has said. “Our issues are still here, and our party is still here.

“And I, on behalf of my party, will be a strong voice on climate, on nature, on equality, on supporting families and children. I’ll be a strong voice in those key green issues as we go into this Dáil.

“The work of rebuilding the Green Party starts tomorrow. We’ve been knocked out before, we’ve come back. And we will come back. It’ll take a take a couple of years, but we will come back, and we will grow our council seats and be back represented in the next Dáil.

“Some amazing people, some behind me, some around the country, didn’t hold on to their seats. We went into government with our eyes open, we knew the risks small parties suffer in government, and we’ve suffered, but we also achieved a lot.”

Dublin South Central

The count has been completed, reports Sarah Burns. Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh took the first seat about an hour ago, and she has been joined by Social Democrat Jen Cummins, while there are seats for Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Máire Devine.

Tipperary North

All votes are to be recounted after one of the candidates called for two rechecks of the distribution of surplus votes between him and a rival candidate, reports Neil Michael.

Independent councillor Jim Ryan was not satisfied with the results of the two rechecks, which showed there were just one or two votes between him and Fianna Fáil’s Michael Smith.

As a result, he has called for, and been granted, a full recount, which will begin in the Thurles count centre tomorrow at 11am.

Carlow Kilkenny

The first candidate to be elected after 11 counts in Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness, reports Suzanne Pender.

Six candidates remain for the final four seats.

Count 12 is under way and it could be the final count as four candidates could be elected without reaching the quota.

Dark horse on the west coast

Aontú candidate Paul Lawless proved the dark horse of the Mayo election campaign, passing the winning post by taking the fifth seat. You can read Tom Shiel’s profile of him here.

Limerick City

We have a final result from Limerick City where Willie O’Dea (FF), Kieran O’Donnell (FG), Maurice Quinlivan (SF), and Conor Sheehan (Labour) have all taken seats.

Outgoing Green Party TD Brian Leddin lost his seat.

Mayo

It’s been a happy weekend for Fine Gael in Mayo with Alan Dillon regaining his seat and fledgling newcomer Keira Keogh winning a second seat in a strong performance, reports Tom Shiel.

Joy too for Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway Walsh who topped the poll and was re-elected. Fianna Fáil Minister of State Dara Calleary put in a typically strong performance but his party will be disappointed that Senator Lisa Chambers failed to regain the seat she lost in 2020.

Aontú’s Paul Lawless sprang what was a surprise to many by nabbing the fifth and final seat. Lawless was ahead of Independent Patsy O’Brien when the 11th and final count was completed. He was elected without reaching the quota.

Dublin Bay North

Sinn Féin TD Denise Mitchell has been re-elected on the 11th count with 402 votes from Aontú candidate James Morris, to bring her over the 10,929 quota, with 11,042 votes.

The Coolock-based TD got the highest vote in Ireland in the 2020 election when the party had just one candidate, reports Marie O’Halloran.

This time, with running mate Micheál MacDonncha she was elected to the second seat, following the earlier success after the eighth count of Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan who topped the poll this time around.

Ms Mitchell said on her election: “I’m just over the moon out to be elected to be going back into the Dáil and representing the people of Dublin Bay North.”

Ms Mitchell said her party offered the electorate change. “We have to wait and see what way the numbers are going to fall, but if we’re coming in about 40+ seats, I don’t think people should be dismissing Sinn Féin” for government.

Fianna Fáil’s Tom Brabazon is in third place with 7,522 votes, followed by Fine Gael’s Naoise Ó Muirí who has 6,438. Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Heney is in fifth on 6,080 votes and is in a strong position to take the fifth seat.

Independent Cllr Barry Heneghan received 904 votes, the highest number of transfers from Aontú. Labour’s bid to retain the seat won in 2020 by Aodhán Ó Riordáin, now an MEP, has ended with the elimination of Shane Folan with 4,234 votes.

Fine Gael veteran Bernard Durkan to retire after losing seat

With 42 years of unbroken service in Dáil Éireann under his belt, Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan will retire from politics after conceding that he will lose his seat in Kildare North, writes Fiachra Gallagher.

After eight counts, the 79-year-old is in sixth place in the five-seater constituency, as over 1,600 votes separate him and the fifth place candidate, running mate Joe Neville.

“One has to accept the inevitable, these things come, and when they do come, you have to accept them,” he said.

“There’s no use in worrying about what’s passed ... you have to recognise that you leave the past behind you. If you don’t leave the past behind you, you damage all around you, and you poison the atmosphere all around you.”

“It’s a long time since I was first elected ... I had many good times, many great victories.”

He said he hoped that those that succeed him have the same “interest” in advocating for constituents needs as he did.

Sligo-Leitrim

Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan became the first elected Sligo-Leitrim TD in an eleventh count that also delivered a breakthrough for Independent Marian Harkin.

Despite a disappointing first preference vote, Ms Harkin now appears to have pulled off a remarkable turnaround, reports Arthur Beesley. Having trailed rival Independent Ireland candidate Michael Clarke for two days, she now leads him by 337 votes.

Mr Feighan’s election came just before 9pm, almost 12 hours into the count on Sunday after a 15-hour Saturday count.

“It was great to get around the constituency and see what great country we have, what wonderful people out there and they articulated their concerns,” Mr Feighan said after singing Oh What a Beautiful Morning with his cheering supporters.

He was flanked by his wife Elaine Mooney, their children Franscesca and Macdara and former Fine Gael TD Tony McLoughlin. “I’ve been in the Oireachtas for over 22 years and I’ve met so many great friends, not just in Fine Gael.”

Ms Harkin pulled ahead of Mr Clarke after receiving 1,161 votes from Fianna Fáil’s Edel McSharry, eliminated in the 10th count. She now has 8,306 votes, with Mr Clarke chasing on 7,969 votes.

Martin Kenny of Sinn Féin is only 1,163 votes off the quota at 10,218, with Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Scanlon at 9,740 votes. The elimination Sinn Féin’s Chris MacManus leaves 6,932 votes to be distributed. These are likely to deliver the second seat to Mr Kenny.

Galway West

Like waiting for buses, almost 36 hours since the count started, and count 11 in Galway West returns not one but two TDs as Mairéad Farrell (SF) and independent Catherine Connolly both retain their seats.

Farrell topped the poll and her surplus of 563 now being counted, reports John Fallon. Five in the hunt for the remaining three seats — with the possibility of a twist on big transfers.

Dublin South Central

Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh has taken the first seat in Dublin South Central, reports Sarah Burns.

Ardagh, who is the daughter of the late Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh, wins the seat after coming close in both the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

Ardagh’s election comes on the 14th count with Independent Joan Collins and the Green Party’s Patrick Costello eliminated during previous counts.

Dublin South West

Labour’s Ciarán Ahern and People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy have both been elected on the final count.

Social Democrats candidate celebrates in Dublin Rathdown

“It’s amazing, I can’t quite believe it,” Sinéad Gibney said, moments after becoming the second candidate to be elected in Dublin Rathdown.

“We’ve been clear with the electorate, as a party, about exactly what we can offer and the people of Dublin Rathdown have said ‘Yes, thanks’.

“We want to govern, we want to change how Irish society is,” she said.

Ms Gibney failed to secure an MEP seat in June, having resigned as chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and sold her car at the time to fund her campaign.

She narrowly missed out on the quota needed to reclaim expenses.

“You cannot believe the year I’ve had,” she said adding that her father died before the European elections.

“This whole year has been on the back of saying goodbye to one of the biggest people in my life, he was so proud of me and he would be so proud of me today and I’m going to do him so proud in the Dáil so this is for him,” she said.

Dublin Bay North

Denise Mitchell of Sinn Féin has been elected in on the 11th count.

Longford-Westmeath

Following the distribution of Labour’s Fidelma Bennett’s votes, Robert Troy (FF) has narrowed the gap to Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (Ind) to just two votes, Stephen Farrell reports.

Meanwhile Sorca Clarke (SF) has moved into third place 48 votes ahead of Fine Gael’s Micheál Carrigy.

For Joe Flaherty (FF), the gap between him and fifth placed Carrigy is 2,340, which appears to be unsurmountable.

More pressure heaped on Stephen Donnelly

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has lost further ground in the race to retain his Dáil seat in Wicklow, writes Carl O’Brien.

Fine Gael looks in pole position to take the final seat as the gap between the party’s west Wicklow candidate Cllr Edward Timmins and Donnelly has widened to almost 1,300 votes.

Taoiseach Simon Harris topped the poll in the four-seat constituency and was elected on the first count on Saturday night.

After count six on Sunday night, Delgany-based Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore (9,633 votes) and Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady (9,523 votes) both look set to retain their seats as they close in on the quota of 11,415 votes.

Timmins is in fourth place (6,160 votes) followed by Donnelly (4,865 votes), Independent candidate and former Fine Gael councillor Shay Cullen (3,850), and Independent candidate and former Fianna Fáil TD Joe Behan (3,678).

Outgoing Green Party TD Steven Matthews (2,810) is set to be the latest of his party to lose his seat.

The votes of Labour councillor Paul O’Brien are currently being counted.

Cavan-Monaghan

Ten down and 10 to go in the marathon Cavan-Monaghan election count, with no one yet elected, reports Seanín Graham.

Aontú's Sarah O’Reilly took the biggest number of transfers (675) at the sixth count following the redistribution of 2,785 votes from People Before Profit’s Emma Hendrick and Irish Freedom Party’s Martin Val.

Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy is still in the lead with 9,857 but is more than 1,600 shy of the quota.

It could be some time before the seventh count gets under way with the hall not even a quarter full.

One woman has arrived with her husband to watch proceedings but “has taken a good book to read”.

Independent Ireland candidate Shane P O’Reilly has now been eliminated.

O’Reilly is a former Fianna Fáil councillor and tally teams are now talking of how his 3,717 votes will be split.

Kerry

The eleventh count in Killarney has seen the election of Danny Healy-Rae on the distribution of Labour’s Mike Kennedy, reports Anne Lucey. The sports and leisure centre in Killarney rocked to the Rose of Tralee, Living Next Door to Alice, and myriad songs after the result was called.

The country is too Dublin-centric and Leinster House should be renamed, he said, to reflect the rest of the country and the real history of Ireland. Health minister Stephen Donnelly deserved to lose his seat, he also said.

Two seats remain to be filled in Kerry.

Meanwhile Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly has expressed his huge disappointment that for the first time the county of Kerry will have no Fine Gael TD.

Four TDs from the Fianna Fáil gene pool are heading to Dáil Éireann, he noted. Along with Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly. “There will be a lot of soul-searching by us and mistakes made by us must be acknowledged and rectified and we must make sure this constituency is never again without a Fine Gael TD,” Kelly said.

The Fine Gael vote was almost halved in Kerry, from almost 15,000 first preferences among two candidates in 2020 to just 7,932 at the weekend.

The elimination of Aontú candidate Catherina O’Sullivan is proceeding.

Kildare North

Fianna Fáil’s James Lawless is the first candidate to be elected. He exceeded the quota of 9,505 on the eighth count.

Dublin Rathdown

Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney has finished on top in Dublin Rathdown with 10,612 votes, with Maeve O’Connell and Shay Brennan (FF) also elected following the final count, reports Jack White.

Overall, Fine Gael has retained its two seats while Fianna Fáil and the Social Democrats have taken one each in Dublin Rathdown.

Fine Gael councillor Maeve O’Connell received 9,752 votes, followed by Fianna Fáil councillor Shay Brennan who finished 8,999.

Independent councillor Michael Fleming, who polled well throughout the weekend, was the final candidate to be eliminated, finishing on 8,002 votes.

Ms Gibney is the first Social Democrats candidate to run in Dublin Rathdown while Mr Brennan’s election gives Fianna Fáil its first seat in the constituency since its establishment in 2016.

Clare

Donna McGettigan (SF) and Joe Cooney (FG) have both been elected in the four seat Clare constituency without reaching the quota, reports Gordon Deegan.

Following the distribution of Senator Roisin Garvey’s (GP) 5,825 votes on count 16, Leonora Carey (FG) failed to bridge the gap on the two.

Carey added 1,592 votes to give her 8,462 votes. McGettigan, who has been transfer friendly all day, added 1,233 to leave give her a total 12,036. Cooney added 1,110 to give him an overall total of 10,790.

Nail-biter in Limerick City

Following count number 14, the final seat in the four-seater Limerick City constituency remains unfilled.

The distribution of Fianna Fáil’s Dee Ryan’s 4,427 votes now taking place, David Raleigh reports.

As it stands, it is a nail-biter between Labour’s Conor Sheehan (4,752) and Elisa Donovan of the Social Democrats (4,736) for the final seat with only 16 votes between them.

It will be an hour or so before the constituency is either finalised or a recount is sought to determine the final seat.

Earlier today, outgoing Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan took the third seat, while outgoing Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell took the second seat.

Fianna Fáil’s veteran TD Willie O’Dea topped the poll on Saturday, taking the first seat. Outgoing Green Party TD Brian Leddin lost his seat.

Clare

Donna McGettigan (SF) and Joe Cooney (FG) fill the remaining two seats in Clare on count 16, Gordon Deegan reports. The election of the two completes the General Election count in Ennis. Timmy Dooley (FF) and Cathal Crowe (FF) were elected earlier this evening.

Surprise in Dublin Bay South

The surprise in the Dublin Bay South election was the loss of outgoing Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews’ seat to Social Democrats Cllr Eoin Hayes, Marie O’Halloran writes. The newly-minted TD had not been predicted to feature in any shake-out for the fourth and final seat, which Mr Andrews had been expected to hold.

Deputy leader of the party Cian O’Callaghan said “none of the pundits or commentators gave him a look in or mention and I think he performed really well and I think it shows that our message really resonated with the voters of Dublin Bay South”.

The technology business consultant, was newly elected in June to Dublin City Council for the Kimmage-Rathmines area before his successful Dáil run.

On his election, Mr Hayes (37) said the Social Democrats were ready to enter government but had “five hard red lines” and would drive a hard bargain in coalition talks. He said they would bring social democratic principles and policies to government.

The other change in the constituency was the success of Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan (38) a barrister and Lord Mayor of Dublin.

His poll topping performance returned a seat to the party following the retirement of outgoing former Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and the disastrous showing of the party nationally. Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan comfortably retained their seats.

Dublin West

People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Ruth Coppinger has won the fourth seat, while Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has secured the 5th and final seat, reports Sorcha Pollak.

Ms Coppinger secured 7,165 votes, while Mr O’Gorman was left on 6,080 votes following the transfer of Labour’s John Walsh’s votes. Aontú's Ellen Troy was eliminated in the 13th count.

Roderic O’Gorman is the only Green Party member to be election in the 2024 general election.

Dublin Midwest

In the end, geography sent two Lucan-based candidates – Shane Moynihan (Fianna Fáil) and Paul Gogarty (Independent) – to the Dáil on the last and 13th count in Dublin Midwest, reports Kitty Holland.

They got over the line, achieving 7,231 and 7,106 votes respectively, following healthy transfers from a Lucan-based Vicky Casserly (Fine Gael). She had been eliminated on the eleventh count, her transfers bringing home running-mate Emer Higgins (8,580 votes) home on the 12th count.

The quota here was 7,913.

Clondalkin-based Eoin Ó Broin (Social Democrats) lost out in the end, achieving 6,215 votes, despite being in contention until the 12th count.

Sinn Féin took the first two seats, with housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin topping the poll (9,892), and elected on the first count on Saturday afternoon. Mark Ward was elected on the ninth count (7,923) on Sunday afternoon.

The major casualty of the contest here was People Before Profit’s sitting TD, Gino Kenny, from Neilstown. He was eliminated on the ninth count, having achieved 3,359 votes.

He was squeezed by a crowded left – the Social Democrats did not run here in 2020 – and the emergence of anti-immigrant candidates – Glen Moore (Irish Freedom Party) and Linda de Courcy (Independent Ireland) who received 5,626 votes between them.

Dublin Rathdown

Final count results are expected soon.

UPDATE: Roderic O’Gorman set to be elected in Dublin West

Sorcha Pollak writes: Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman is on track to secure the only seat for the Green party. The inal Dublin West count due in the next 20 mins.

Louth Senator John McGahon to step back from Politics

Jade Wilson reports: Controversial Fine Gael election candidate John McGahon has said he will be prioritising spending time with his family over the coming weeks after it became clear he’s unlikely to win a seat in Louth.

McGahon was found not guilty in a criminal trial in 2022 for physically attacking a man outside a pub inLouth in 2018. However, he was ordered to pay €39,000 in damages after he was later found 65 per cent liable in a civil trial.

A video of the assault emerged during the general election campaign, damaging his bid for a seat.

Speaking on Sunday afternoon, when he was polling 7th place in the 5 seater, with 4,278 votes, he said it had been “a very tough two weeks for me, personally, to say the least”.

“I’ve put politics first for the last 10 years of my life and now it’s time to put my family first and put my wife, Aine first,” McGahon said.

He was “looking forward to spending as much time as possible with them over the next couple of weeks”.

McGahon congratulated his running mate Fine Gael councillor Paula Butterly who was outpolling him.

“She’s been an excellent councillor for the last four years. I’ve seen how hard she has worked,” he said.

No one has been elected in the constituency yet, as of the 13th count, as no candidate has reached the quota.

Update Dublin West: With Labour elimination, Roderic O’Gorman’s path to Dáil looks easier

Sorcha Pollak writes: The Labour Party’s John Walsh has been eliminated following the 12th count in the five-seater Dublin West constituency.

People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Ruth Coppinger received another boost from the Social Democrats’ Ellen Murphy transfers to reach 6,340 votes, but still over a thousand short of reaching the quota of 7,373.

Aontú's Ellen Troy remains in 5th place with 4,547, but her SocDems transfers were low and she is not expected to benefit too highly from Labour transfers.

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman and his supporters are cautiously breathing a sigh of relief. They’re expected to secure a solid number of Labour transfers, which will push them towards securing the fifth and final constituency seat.

If O’Gorman secures this seat, he will be the only Green Party TD to be elected in the 2024 general election.

Enda O’Dowd’s highlights of the day captured on video.

Paul Gogarty returns to Dáil Éireann

Former Green Party TD Paul Gogarty is returning to Dáil Éireann after a gap of 13 years.

He has just won a seat in Dublin Mid West along with Fianna Fáil’s Shane Moynihan.

Gogarty has been an independent councillor since 2014.

UPDATE: Chris Andrews loses seat in Dublin Bay South as Social Democrats takes surprise seat

Eoin Hayes, the surprise package of this election, has been elected in Dublin South.

He was not predicted to feature in the final shake-up and was at the longest odds (33 to 1) of any candidate in the election.

More to follow from Marie O’Halloran.

Update Limerick City: Only a handful of votes might separate Fianna Fáil and Soc Dems after Count 13

David Raleigh reports: Maurice Quinlivan’s surplus (801) is now being distributed among the three remaining candidates: Conor Sheehan LAB (4,631); Elisa O’Donovan SD (4,550); and Dee Ryan FF (4,346).

Only 14 votes separate O’Donovan and Ryan. If the surplus (which has come from the transfers of Aontú's Sarah Beasley) break more to Ryan than O’Donovan she could overtake her Social Democrats rival and survive to the next count. But it’s a long shot.

Meanwhile Sinéad Gibney poised to win another seat for the Social Democrats

Jack White writes: Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney took a significant chunk of Sinn Féin candidate Shaun Tracey’s transfers, bringing her to second place ahead of Fianna Fáil councillor Shay Brennan.

She is behind Fine Gael councillor Maeve O’Connell by 93 votes.

Ms O’Connell has been leading since Neale Richmond’s election on Saturday.

Independent councillor Michael Fleming received the second-highest portion of the transfers (1,195) from Sinn Féin and stands at 7,486 votes, though now finds himself last in line.

Catherine Martin of the Green Party has lost her seat

Jack White writes: Green Party minister Catherine Martin has lost her seat in Dublin Rathdown after being eliminated following the ninth count.

Ms Martin became the latest Green Party member to lose their seat on Sunday evening when she finished with 5,881 votes against a quota of 9,752.

Ms Martin was the first to be elected in the 2020 general election after receiving the highest number of first preference votes.

Originally from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, she had been a TD since February 2016, and served as deputy leader of the party from 2011 until former party leader Eamon Ryan announced his resignation this year.

Prior to her election to the Dáil, she was a Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County councillor from 2014 until 2016.

She was appointed Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in June 2020. She played a prominent role dealing with the various RTÉ controversies over the past 18 months.

While minister, she launched a pilot scheme which pays some artists a basic income, previously described by some beneficiaries as “life changing”, as it allows them to focus on their craft.

Ms Martin, who is a classical singer, taught English and music for 16 years prior to her election to the Dáil.

Although not present for the result on Sunday, speaking to reporters at the count centre in Ballinteer Community School on Saturday evening, Ms Martin described it as a “very disappointing day for the Green Party.”

“My heart goes out to everyone, all of the candidates we ran.

“But this happened before, and we will come back and we will come back stronger than ever before, that I can be sure of,” she said

UPDATE: SocDems’ Hayes overtakes Chris Andrews in Dublin Bay South

Marie O’Halloran reports: Social Democrats candidate Eoin Hayes has overtaken Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews in the battle for the final seat in Dublin Bay South.

Cllr Hayes received 780 vote transfers from the surplus of Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan to hit 6,754 votes.

Mr Andrews received 95 votes to reach 6,258.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik’s surplus is now being distributed and is expected to elect Cllr Hayes.

Update: Dublin West where Roderic O’Gorman is in a fight for his political life

Sorcha Pollak writes: People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Ruth Coppinger received a boost of 717 transfers from Sinn Féin in the latest Dublin West count, bringing her total vote count to 5,211 by 6pm on Sunday.

Ms Coppinger was still short 2,162 votes to reach the quota of 7,373 for election and secure the fourth constituency seat.

Aontú's Ellen Troy remains in 5th place with 4,348 votes. However, she is not expected to receive any further transfer boosts in the final few counts. Green party leader Roderic O’Gorman remains in sixth place with 3,777 votes, followed by Labour’s John Walsh with 3,299 votes.

The votes Social Democrats’ Ellen Murphy are currently being distributed for the 12th count.

Sinn Féin’s second TD in Waterford serenaded by supporters

Kevin O’Sullivan writes: A rousing rendition of Oró, Sé Do Bheatha ‘Bhaile greeted the election of Sinn Fein’s Conor McGuinness in Waterford as he saw off the challenge of Independent out-going TD Matt Shanahan and secured a notable double in the Déise.

Running mate David Cullinane (SF) was first to congratulate the Dungarvan man as he was raised aloft by his supporters after winning the final seat. There was no shouts of “Up the Ra”, which notoriously rang out at a victory party for Cullinane last time out in 2020.

Defeated Fine Gael candidate John McGahon speaks

Jade Wilson writes: John McGahon, whose campaign was embroiled in controversy after a video emerged of a 2018 street assault, has spoken for the first time.

He says he will be taking a step back from politics and spending more time with his family.

He’s unlikely to be elected in Louth with his running mate Paula Butterly outpolling him.

He also spoke to local radio station LMFM.

Every cloud has a silver lining

We liked this post from Noel Rock, who has always been a glass half-full type of politician. Upbeat even in defeat.

Update Longford Westmeath

Stephen Farrell writes: There is still a long way to go in this five-seat constituency.

Following the distribution of Margaret Alacoque Maguire’s (IF) transferable votes, matters remain largely unchanged regarding the first five placed candidates.

Of the top five, Sorca Clarke (SF) received the largest amount of Maguire’s votes at 43, leaving her on 7,126 votes and so has narrowed the gap between herself and Fine Gael’s Micheál’s Carrigy to 478 votes, with Carrigy now on 7,604.

Simultaneously Clarke has also increased her lead over sixth placed Joe Flaherty (FF) from the previous count to 1,668 votes.

The votes of Newtownforbes based Dave Smyth (PBPS), who has been eliminated after this count, are now being distributed amongst the remaining candidates.

Enda O’Dowd’s excellent video from today showing he moment Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch conceded to Labour’s Marie Sherlock.

Update: Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman in grim battle to retain seats

Sorcha Pollak reports: Aontú's Ellen Troy has further bolstered her lead over Roderic O’Gorman on the latest distribution of votes and 10th count in Dublin West.

The distribution of Independent candidate Tania Doyle’s votes saw Ms Troy receive 343 votes, bringing her to 4,000. She is currently on track to secure the constituency’s fifth seat. However, competing parties believe Ms Troy will not receive any further boosts from transfers.

PBPS Ruth Coppinger also benefited from Doyle’s transfers and currently has 4,494 votes. Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman is still in sixth place with 3,652 votes.

The votes of Sinn Féin candidate Breda Hanaphy are now being distributed. Aontú was established by former Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín in 2019 – it remains to be seen whether Ms Hanaphy’s voters will follow Tóibín’s lead or opt for a candidate on the left for their transfers.

Update: Cavan-Monaghan marathon now looks like it will become endurance race

Seanín Graham reports: Five counts down in Cavan Leisure Centre and still no-one elected.

Total of nine candidates now out of the race. Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy remains on top, with 9,551 votes - but is 1,991 votes shy of reaching quota.

It looks as if they’ll count through the night here as some staff unavailable tomorrow.

New: Irish Times Live Coverage on Dublin Rathdown count

The battle in this key Dublin constituency is so delicately poised that we are also reporting live from there with Jack White marshalling the coverage.

There was a recheck less than an hour ago, which resulted in significant changes to transfers allotted to remaining candidates from Aontú, with Fianna Fáil’s Shay Brennan receiving 402 transfers after the recheck, compared to the 102 he originally received.

Speaking of which, Jack reports the following latest news.

Sinn Féin candidate Shaun Tracey has been eliminated following the eighth count for Dublin Rathdown.

It comes as Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney received the largest portion of Labour councillor Lettie McCarthy’s transfers.

Ms Gibney received 1,030 transfers bringing her latest total to 6,244 though she remains behind independent councillor Michael Fleming, albeit by 47 votes.

Green Party minister Catherine Martin received a considerable 920 transfers, however, she is now at the bottom of the poll in fifth place.

Fine Gael councillor Maeve O’Connell remains in the lead with 8,123 votes, followed by Fianna Fáil councillor Shay Brennan (7,908).

Mr Tracey’s 4,382 votes will now be distributed.

Harkin believes she is still in the race in Sligo-Leitrim

Arthur Beesley writes: After nine counts in Sligo-Leitrim, incumbent Independent TD Marian Harkin is chasing hard after Michael Clarke of Independent Ireland for one of the last seats.

Harkin was 1,632 votes behind Clarke in the first count but received a big boost from the elimination of Independent candidate Marie Casserly, taking an additional 1,103 votes while Clarke gained 418. This has cut Clarke’s lead to 506 votes going into the tenth count. The next count will distribute 4,406 votes from Fianna Fáil candidate Paddy O’Rourke.

Not one of the four seats has been filled. Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan is in the lead with 10,216 votes but still 1,165 votes shy of the quota. Next comes Martin Kenny of Sinn Féin with 8,927 votes, 2,454 less than the quota, followed by Clarke and Harkin. Following them is Chris MacManus of Sinn Féin, whose 6,647 votes could bring Kenny over the line. Next is Eamon Scanlon of Fianna Fáil on 6,335 votes and running mate Edel McSharry on 5,390.

O’Rourke could lift the two Fianna Fáilers, with Scanlon sufficiently far enough to remain the favourite. Count observers believe a McSharry elimination could benefit Harkin in the final shakeout.

Sinn Féin and Labour gain in Kildare South

Fiachra Gallagher reports: Counting in Kildare South is complete: Sinn Féin’s Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh and Mark Wall of Labour were both elected without exceeding the quota.

Mr Wall, will – on the third time of asking – take up a seat in the constituency his father Jack served as a TD between 1997 and 2016.

Both men stood side by side as the results were called. Jack became emotional when speaking to the media following his son’s election.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh was hoisted above the crowd by supporters following her election to chants of “Saoirse don Phalastín”.

It was a another disappointment for Fiona O’Loughlin of Fianna Fáil who was ahead in the earlier counts but was 500 votes behind Mark Wall after the distribution of Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon’s surplus.

‘It’s going to be tight’ say Stephen Donnelly as he still holds out hope in Wicklow

Carl O’Brien writes: Minster for Health Stephen Donnelly said his chances of holding onto the final seat in Wicklow are “tight”.

Mr Donnelly is locked in a two-way race for the last seat in the four-seat constituency with Taoiseach Simon Harris’ Fine Gael running mate Edward Timmins.

“It’s going to be tight, obviously,” he said. “It was always going to come down to the last seat in Wicklow. We’ll see how things go.”

He congratulated the Taoiseach on his re-election and said a strong “Government vote” for Mr Harris’s had impacted on his own chances of re-election.

“We knew Simon would take a huge vote – a Government vote, if you like – in the constituency. It was strong actually, but when you’re sharing a constituency and a hometown with a taoiseach and moving from a five-seater to a four-seater; when you put those two things together, it obviously creates a lot of pressure. We all knew it would come down to the final seat, to transfers. We’ll see what happens in the coming hours.”

State of Play at 5pm

So we are approaching the moment where half of the 174 seats are filled, some 32 hours after the polls opened.

Exactly 86 seats are now filled with Fianna Fáil marginally ahead of Fine Gael, with 23 seats to 22 seats. Sinn Féin is on 20 seats.

The parties are also close in terms of vote share with Fianna Fáil just shy of 22 per cent, Fine Gael just short of 21 per cent and Sinn Féin at 19 per cent.

Of course, the story that almost made international headlines across the world, the near election of Gerard Hutch. That was an extraordinary story. There was a 2,000 gap between him and Labour’s Marie Sherlock. She absolutely took all the transfers from Mary Fitzpatrick and Neasa Hourigan. Their votes brought Gary Gannon home.

Other big surprises today were the two Social Democrats who came out of nowhere including Eoin Hayes and Padraig Rice.

A nail biter in North Central – Sinn Fein’s Joe Lynch sent running mate Thomas Gould over the line with 589 votes to spare on the 10th count so the 11th count will see that surplus distributed among the remaining eight candidates. Barry Roche reports.

Padraig O’Sullivan of Fianna Fail and Ken O’Flynn of Independence Ireland are nailed down for two seats as is Colm Burke of Fine Gael who will be relying on transfers from his running mate, Garret Kelleher from Ballincollig to get him over the line.

All of which leaves Tony Fitzgerald of Fianna Fail, People Before Profit/Solidarity’s Mick Barry and Labour’s Eoghan Kenny fighting it out for the final seat with much depending on what will happen to the 4,098 votes garnered by Susan Doyle of the Soc Dems.

Aontú's Ellen Troy has jumped ahead of the Roderic O’Gorman in the latest Dublin West count, pushing the Green party leader into sixth place and away from the much-coveted fifth seat in the constituency, reports Sorcha Pollak.

Ms Troy benefited substantially from the distribution of National Party Patrick Quinlan’s votes, securing 677 on transfers which brings her to 3,657. PBPS Ruth Coppinger is on 4,142, still a way off the quota of 7,373. Mr O’Gorman, now in sixth place, has 3,491 votes. No one was elected in the Dublin West 9th count.

Kieran O’Donnell FG was re-elected (8,755 votes) on Count 10 count, filling the second seat in the 4-seater Limerick City constituency, writes David Raleigh.

Maurice Quinlivan SF, who topped the poll in the constituency last year, must wait a little longer to cross the line; he is 8 votes shy of being re-elected.

Three candidates remain in a hotly contested battle for the final 4th seat including sitting councillors Conor Sheehan LAB (4,237), Elisa O’Donovan, SD, (4,195), plus Dee Ryan FF (3,945) still in the hunt.

Sarah Beasley (AON) has been eliminated on this count on 3,441 votes.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan has been elected to Dublin Bay South constituency, the third TD returned to the Dáil on the 10th count with a surge of 2,370 transfers from Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan who topped the poll and was elected with Labour leader Ivana Bacik on the 9th count.

Mr O’Callaghan had a surplus of 1,794 votes, reports Marie O’Halloran.

These are currently being distributed and it is speculated that it will elect Social Democrats candidate Eoin Hayes. Mr Hayes and outgoing Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews have been battling it out through the counts. Mr Geoghegan’s transfers to Mr O’Callaghan originated with Fine Gael candidate Emma Blain and they are expected to favour Mr Hayes.

Count Seven in Kerry has seen the election of Sinn Fein’s Pa Daly, justice spokesman for the party- with transfers of 949 from party colleague Stephanie O’Shea.

He is only the second candidate to be elected in the five-seater Kerry constituency where Michael Healy Rae got over 5,000 votes over the quota, writes Anne Lucey.

Three seats remain to be filled.

Education Minister Norma Foley who is in the running to be elected in Kerry, paid tribute to the Fianna Fail strategy of three candidates which drew criticism among some party stalwarts - including candidate Michael Cahill who looks set to take a second seat for Fianna Fail in Kerry. The party vote is up six percentage points on 2020 the last election to over 26 per cent in Kerry.

“We have improved our vote spectacularly,” Norma Foley said. The division of the constituency - where she did not canvass in Killarney - worked, Ms Foley said.

It probably meant her own vote was not as high as might be expected with two candidates, she agreed. But it was “a good strategy for the party,” she said. However it was the work over five years which had created the environment and the realisation Kerry should have two Fianna Fail TDs, she said.

Dublin North West all done. Seats go to Rory Hearne, Paul Mcauliffe, and Dessie Ellis in that order.

Gerard Hutch faced sustained questioning from RTÉ's crime correspondent Paul Reynolds as he entered the count centre, writes Conor Gallagher.

Reynolds asked Hutch about his reaction the judgment last year of the Special Criminal Court which, while acquitting him of the Regency Hotel murder, found he had “control” over the assault rifles used in the attack.

A visibly annoyed Hutch compared Reynolds to a “dying wasp” before telling him: “get away from me Paul Reynolds. You get paid off the State, you get paid off of RTÉ”.

Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy has been elected in Dublin South West following the elimination of his running mate Cllr Sarah Barnes.

Poll topper Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan has been elected in Dublin Bay North on the eighth count with 11,908 votes, exceeding the 10,929 quota.

Marie Sherlock has won the fourth and final seat in Dublin Central with Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch losing out. Hutch went over to Sherlock and spoke with her briefly. She said he was “very gracious” and wished her well. He then left the count centre ending. one of the more dramatic stories of the election. Sherlock benefited from the surplus of Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe leaving her with a total of 6,102 votes on the eleventh count with Hutch on 5,321 votes.

Count Six in Kerry has seen the elimination of the second Sinn Fein candidate Stephanie O’Shea. Her 1,384 votes now being distributed should see the election of Pa Daly, Sinn Fein justice spokesman. Only one candidate has so far been elected, reports Anne Lucey.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan has been elected in Dublin Bay South in the 10th count with significant transfers of 2,370 votes from Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan’s surplus.

His surplus of 1,794 votes will now be distributed with all eyes on the possibility of them favouring Social Democrats candidate Eoin Hayes over outgoing Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews.

Senator Timmy Dooley is set to be elected on the 13th count now underway at the count centre in Ennis, writes Gordon Deegan.

Dooley is now just 103 votes short of reaching the quota and he will receive a large chunk of running colleague, Cllr Rita McInerney’s 4,592 votes. McInerney was eliminated at the end of Count 12. The McInerney distribution may also be sufficient to get party colleague Cathal Crowe over the quota.

Two more candidates are now very close to reaching the quota in Cork East, reports Liz Dunphy

Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy looks set to take a seat after receiving 2184 of fellow Fermoy native Independent councillor William O’Leary’s transfers, bringing his total vote to 9,400 in the eleventh count.

It will be the first time in 33 years that Fermoy has had a TD. Mr McCarthy, who is originally from Cobh, said that it will also be the first time in 27 years that Cobh will have a TD.

“The people of Fermoy and Cobh felt they hadn’t a voice, I want to be that voice for them,” he said.

Sinn Féin’s Pat Buckley, who topped the poll in 2020, also look set to take a seat on 9173 votes.

The quota is 9,602.

It is currently a battle between Social Democrats Liam Quaide (on 7889) and Fine Gael’s Mark Stanton (on 7689) for the final seat after the 11th count.

But there are limited votes left now to distribute between candidates in the four seat constituency.

Fianna Fáil’s James O’Connor has already been elected. His surplus of 332 votes is now being distributed.

Sinn Féin’s Seán Crowe has become the first TD to be elected in the Dublin South West constituency, reports Ronan McGreevy.

Mr Crowe, who has been a TD for the area since 2002, with the exception of the period between 2007 and 2011, was elected on the sixth count following the elimination of the Social Democrats candidate Ross O’Mullane.

In 2020 Mr Crowe was elected on the first count with almost 30 per cent of the first preference vote.

He blamed the short nature of the campaign for the failure to deliver a second seat to Sinn Féin in Dublin South West.

Mr Crowe said Sinn Féin had the momentum going into the last week of the campaign and would have got the extra 4 per cent needed to get his running mate Cllr Niamh Whelan over the line.

He also said the low turnout in the election mitigated against the momentum for change.

“There is a challenge for all political parties including our own in that there are a lot of people who don’t come out and vote.

In Dublin North West Fine Gael’s Noel Rock has been eliminated on the eighth count. Dessie Ellis (SF) and Rory Hearne (Soc Dems) are now exactly neck and neck both on 7,423, pushing hard against the quota of 8,187. However, the bulk of Rock’s transfers are likely to go to Paul McAuliffe (FF) who’s on 5,259.

Likely final count underway now in Fingal East. Fine Gael parliamentary party chairman Alan Farrell facing difficult battle to retain seat

Independent candidate Natalie Treacy has been eliminated from Dublin West following the sixth count in the constituency and the distribution of votes from Independent candidate Susanne Delaney. No one was elected in the sixth count.

Sorcha Pollak writes that PBPS Ruth Coppinger is still on track to secure the fourth seat and Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman remains comfortably in fifth place.

The 11th and final count at Galway East sees Louis O’Hara (SF) and Pete Roche (FG) take the final two seats in the constituency. Declan Geraghty of Independent Ireland eliminated after a strong performance.

The Paschal Donohoe surplus of 1,518 votes will now be distributed between Hutch and Sherlock. It looks like - as her election posters said - she will be “on the case” in Dublin Central.

Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe has been elected to Dublin Central.

The public expenditure minister has taken the third seat following the 10th count.

The final seat in the constituency will go either to Labour’s Marie Sherlock or Independent Gerard “The Monk” Hutch, with Donohoe’s surplus the determining factor.

The distribution of Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick’s transfers on the 10th count resulted in Donohoe finishing with 8,069 votes, Hutch is currently on 5,194 and Sherlock on 5,070 votes.

Of the 930 surplus votes after Gary Gannon got elected in Dublin Central, 716 went to Marie Sherlock and 18 to Gerard Hutch and that explains the growing confidence among the Labour people.

The unofficial tally of Mary Fitzpatrick’s votes would break down as follows

Donohoe (FG) + 1686

Sherlock (Lab) + 508

Hutch (Ind) + 155

That sees Donohoe elected and the gap between Hutch and Sherlock narrowing to 129.

Independent TD Cathal Berry has lost his seat in Kildare North. He was eliminated on the 10th count, writes Fiachra Gallagher.

We’ve yet to elect someone in Kildare North, but Fine Gael’s Martin Heydon and Sinn Féin’s Shonagh Ní Raghallaigh look to be safe.

It’ll be a scrap for the final seat between Mark Wall (Lab) and Fiona O’Loughlin (FF). Wall (8,744 votes) is now on the front foot, having leapfrogged O’Loughlin (8,312 votes) by virute of Chris Pender’s (SD) transfers.

The quota is 10,734.

Nessa Cosgrove of Labour eliminated in the seventh Sligo-Letrim count. The distribution of her 2,846 votes will be critical for the prospects of incumbent Independent TD Marian Harkin as she struggles for survival after a disappointing first preference vote.

Sitting TDs Dara Calleary and Alan Dillon both elected on eighth count in Mayo.

Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has fallen behind Fine Gael councillor Edward Timmins in their battle for the final seat in Wicklow, writes Carl O’Brien.

Taoiseach Simon Harris topped the poll in the four-seat constituency and was elected on the first count on Saturday night.

Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady (8,601) and Delgany-based Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore (8,545) both look set to retain their seats.

Following the distribution of Harris’s 5,000-plus surplus on Saturday afternoon, the bulk of votes went to Timmins, who overtook Donnelly and opened up a gap of just under 1,000 votes.

Timmins is now in fourth place (5,513 votes) followed by Donnelly (4,572) and former Fine Gael councillor Shay Cullen (3,420).

The votes of several eliminated candidates are now being redistributed.

Harris said on Saturday night he was “cautiously optimistic” that Timmins will get over the line, while local election observers also believe the gap between Donnelly and Timmins may be too big to bridge for the Fianna Fail TD.

Independent candidate Susanne Delaney has been eliminated from Dublin-West following the fifth count in the constituency and the distribution of surplus votes from FG’s Emer Currie, reports Sorcha Pollak.

PBPS Ruth Coppinger is still on track to secure the fourth seat and Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman remains comfortably in fifth place.

After the distribution of the votes of eliminated candidates Paul Bradley, Charlotte Keenan and Donal Jackson in Longford - Westmeath all Independent, unsurprisingly none of the remaining candidates have reached the magic 10,315 quota number, writes Stephen Farrell.

The Green Party’s Carol Okeke has been eliminated and her votes will be distributed in Count 4.

Labour is increasingly confident that Marie Sherlock is picking up enough transfers to over take Gerry Hutch in the race for the last seat in Dublin Central. It will go right down to the wire though.

Sitting People Before Profit TD in Dublin Mid-West, Gino Kenny, has conceded he will not hold his seat, writes Kitty Holland.

Now trailing on 3,030 votes on the eighth count, with the quota is 7,913 in this five seater, he said it had been a “privilege to represent the people of DMW for the past 16 years”.

“Sincere thanks to all those who have supported me throughout that time…I have met some extraordinary people in the past nine years as a TD. Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances, that overcame adversity to make things better for the greater good. This I hope reflected in some small way over them nine years.

Political activism doesn’t stop when this type of conventional politics ceases, in fact it can give clarity in what political activism really is.”

He is now at the count centre in Adamstown and has been commiserated with by Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin, who topped the poll as well as by members of the Social Democrats’ candidate’s election team.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said her party will talk first to Social Democrats about coalition formation as they “share our vision and our values” and the party’s commitment to tackling climate change and delivering homes.

Marie O’Halloran reports that Ms Bacik was speaking after she and Fine Gael poll topper James Geoghegan were elected to Dublin Bay South on the eighth count.

She said her party was making significant gains and they would come back with a larger party in the Dáil. She reiterated that her party “is serious about change and that we want to offer change” and their first priority was to “build that common platform”.

Mr Geoghegan, a new TD said that objectively “quite clearly Sinn Féin lost the election. They’re down 5 per cent but the two main Government parties have essentially maintained their vote so there is a clear mandate and it will be up to those two parties to see who they will coalesce with, if necessary to form a majority.”

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan is expected to be elected at the next count and it will be a battle for the fourth seat between Sinn Féin’s Chris Andrews and Social Democrats Cllr Eoin Hayes for the fourth seat. It is expected that both Ms Bacik’s and Mr Geoghegan’s surpluses will have to be counted to determine the outcome of the final seat and whether Mr Andrews will retain it or lose it to a growing Social Democrats Dáil team.

Labour candidate Lettie McCarthy has been eliminated following the seventh count for Dublin Rathdown, reports Jack White.

Some 833 transfers from Aontú candidate Liam Coughlan have brought independent councillor Michael Fleming ahead of Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney by 358 votes.

Fine Gael councillor Maeve O’Connell remains in the lead followed by Fianna Fáil councillor Shay Brennan with 309 votes between them.

Green Party minister Catherine Martin is currently placed second last with 4,560 votes against a quota of 9,752, followed by Sinn Féin’s Shaun Tracey (4,223).

Ms McCarthy’s 3,480 votes will now be distributed, with six canididates left in the race for the three remaining seats.

After a quiet morning at the Waterford count, things are moving to business end, reports Kevin O’Sullivan.

Fine Gael Senator John Cummins is about to take the second seat in the 9th count; a key gain flagged by the party.

Mary Butler FF will be next, then the crunch fight will soon follow over last seat between Conor McGuinness SF and Independent outgoing TD Matt Shanahan.

Sinn Fein up to now has been transfer friendly but there is a sizeable city vote to come that will boost Shanahan. The odds favour a second SF seat here as McGuinness has maintained a cushion of more than 1,100 votes since the distribution of David Cullinane’s surplus after the first count.

People Before Profit Solidarity candidate Gino O’Boyle eliminated in the sixth Sligo-Leitrim count.

The elimination of lower candidates is continuing in Galway West with the smart money now on outgoing Hildegarde Naughton (FG) to claim the fifth seat and hold off the challenge of party colleague Senator Sean Kyne and Cllr Noel Thomas (Ind), writes John Fallon.

Still waiting for the first candidate to be elected but Mairéad Farrrell (SF) and independents Catherine Connolly and Noel Grealish will all be returned with John Connolly picking up the seat vacated by his FF colleague Éamon Ó Cuív.

Count number nine in Dublin Central and Labour’s Marie Sherlock has benefited greatly from Social Democrat Gary Gannon’s surplus, securing an extra 716 votes, Sarah Burns reports

Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe is still just shy of the quota at 6,275 votes, followed by Independent Gerard ‘the Monk’ Hutch on 5,039 votes, Sherlock is on 4,557 votes and Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick on 2,802 votes. Fitzpatrick’s votes now to be distributed.

Roderic O’Gorman has said he wants to stay on as Green Party leader. “I committed to lead the party into the election and beyond,” he said, adding he would be putting his name forward at the party’s post-election convention.

With the last first count just announced the party percentages have been finalised.

Full results as they unfold in our Election 2024 Results Hub

Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy topped the poll in the five-seater Cavan-Monaghan constituency with 9,363 votes but failed to get elected as he fell 2,179 votes short of the quota, reports Seanín Graham.

In what was the longest first count in the country, returning officer Joseph Smith took to the podium and announced results shortly after 12.15pm on Sunday – more than 27 hours after boxes opened at Cavan Leisure centre at 9am on Saturday.

McCarthy’s running mate and first-time candidate, Cllr Cathy Bennett, came second at 6,904 votes, followed by former incumbent and long-standing Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith.

In fourth place was former TD Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully with 6,455 votes, and fifth was Fine Fáil’s Senator Robbie Gallagher on 6,273 votes.

No one was elected and four candidates were eliminated from the race. This included three Independent candidates: Joesph Duffy (122 votes), Fearghal Deery (79 votes) and Jimmy Mee (27 votes).

The Nationalist Party’s Mark Moore was also eliminated after securing 177 votes.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan are elected in Dublin Bay South

The new constituency of Wicklow-Wexford is now filled, with each of the three main parties taking a seat each following the sixth count, reports Ellen O’Riordan.

First-time political candidate Brian Brennan, a well-known local hotelier, exceeded the quota with 10,339 votes for Fine Gael. Sinn Féin’s Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin, a special-education teacher and councillor, was elected without reaching quota with 10,222 votes. Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne is the third TD for this area, having been elected with 9,156 votes.

Olivia Kelly is reporting an interesting distribution of Gavin Pepper’s votes in Dublin North-West. While more than a third were non-transferable, the largest number of those that were, 631, went to People Before Profit Solidarity’s Conor Reddy.

The pair have clashed frequently since they were both elected to Dublin City Council last June and Reddy has lodged two formal ethics complaints against Pepper that are under investigation by the council. In the end, the transfers were no good to Reddy who was eliminated on the seventh count.

Outspoken Fianna Fáil junior minister Anne Rabbitte has lost her seat in Galway East where her party colleague Albert Dolan has been elected, reports Cormac McQuinn.

Prior to entering politics she spent 25 years working for a financial institution and is a qualified financial adviser. She also ran a community childcare facility for three years.

Ms Rabbitte was first elected in 2016, retained her seat in 2020 and was appointed as Minister of State for Disabilities, gaining a reputation for fighting her corner in advocating for more investment in the area.

A man was convicted of assaulting Ms Rabbitte by throwing a bag of cow dung towards her at a public meeting last year.

During the case at Ennis District Court Ms Rabbitte spoke of the incident saying she “didn’t feel safe” and “I felt I was the most vulnerable person in the room.”

News from Dublin Central - looks like the vast majority of Gary Gannon’s surplus of 930 is going to Marie Sherlock.

Social Democrat Gary Gannon has been re-elected as a TD for Dublin Central.

Gannon, who was first elected in 2020, took the second seat on the eighth count at the RDS. Gerard ‘the Monk’ Hutch still very much in contention for the final seat alongside Labour’s Marie Sherlock.

Count number eight saw the transfers of former Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan taking Gannon over the line with a total of 7,481 votes.

Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe is now at 6,162 votes, followed by Hutch on 5,021 votes. Sherlock is on 3,841 votes and Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick on 2,768 votes.

Gannon’s surplus of 930 will now be distributed.

Still no sign of a first count - yes, that is a first count - in Cavan-Monaghan.

Independent candidate Brian Stanley has just been elected in Laois.

Four of the five seats in Kerry remain to be filled with candidates edging slowly to the 13,083 quota, writes Anne Lucey.

The distribution of Michael Healy-Rae’s massive surplus of 5,513 has just taken place with brother Danny receiving just under half his number twos – bringing Danny to 11,236, still some way off the quota.

Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly is now at 12,272 and is leading the pack. The gap between Fianna Fáil’s Michael Cahill and Fine Gael’s Billy O’Shea has stretched with O’Shea now 486 votes behind, with the Fine Gael seat increasingly likely to go to their old rivals.

Two candidates have been eliminated in count two – Mary Fitzgibbon, Independent, along with John O’Leary and their combined vote of 543 is now being distributed in Killarney.

Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Heney is in clear contention for the fifth seat in Dublin Bay North, reports Marie O’Halloran.

After the fifth count she is in fifth place in the five-seat constituency on 5,536 votes with her Sinn Féin rival Mícheál MacDonncha in sixth position on 3,991 votes.

The expected string showing for Independents was not realised and Independent John Lyons has been eliminated with 2,122 votes.

Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan remains in pole position on 9,797 votes with a quota of 10,929. Sinn Féin’s Denise Mitchell is in second place on 9,213 on votes with Fine Gael’s Naoise Ó Muirí on 5,966 and Fianna Fáil’s Tom Brabazon on 6,930.

Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers has been eliminated on the 7th count in Mayo.

They are weighing things up carefully – and very slowly – in Cavan-Monaghan.

Independent candidate and former Fine Gael minister Alan Shatter has been eliminated following the fifth count for Dublin Rathdown.

First elected in 1981, the 73-year-old was a Fine Gael TD for 30 years, during which he served as minister for justice and minister for defence, reports Jack White.

Mr Shatter resigned from Cabinet in 2014 after a review into allegations made by Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe about police misconduct.

He was vindicated in 2016 in the O’Higgins Commission report but went on to lose his seat that same year, before he ceased being a Fine Gael member in 2018.

Running as an Independent this time around, Mr Shatter’s campaign largely focused on the abolition of inheritance tax.

He finished with 1,925 votes.

Fianna Fáil councillor Shay Brennan received 830 transfers from eliminated Fianna Fáil candidate Elaine Dunne, bringing him just 35 votes behind Fine Gael councillor Maeve O’Connell.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik is set to be first elected in Dublin Bay South after she received significant transfers from the Green Party’s Hazel Chu, writes Marie O’Halloran.

Ms Chu’s votes were distributed in the eighth count after she was eliminated.

Fine Gael’s Emma Blain has been eliminated and her votes will now be distributed. Ms Bacik is just 12 votes shy of the 7,957 quota. Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan is second on 7,060 with 387 transfer votes.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan is in third place on 6,723 votes with 161 transfers from Ms Chu. Sinn Féin’s Chris Andrews is on 6,091 with 131 transfers from the Green candidate. Social Democrats candidate Eoin Hayes is 556 votes behind him but still in contention, depending on who the distribution of Ms Blain’s total of 5,177 votes favours.

A quiet start in Donegal after the election of Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn late last night. Mac Lochlainn’'s surplus of 324 votes are now being distributed.

“There’s a long way to go yet,” Danny Healy-Rae on 8,603 first preferences, 5,000 under quota, says this morning as another long day in the count centre in Killarney is anticipated.

Anne Lucey is there for us and notes that the only one to be elected so far is Michael Healy-Rae – 20 minutes before midnight Saturday after a marathon sort/count/review.

He surpassed the quota by 5,513 around what Danny needs. The laborious task of sorting and distributing this surplus is now taking place. But fewer number 2s than in 2020 are going to brother Danny.

In Danny’s words – he is one of three in the mix for two seats – alongside Michael Cahill for Fianna Fáil, and Billy O’Shea for Fine Gael.

A second count anticipated in minutes.

The meticulous distribution and sorting of Paul Donnelly’s (SF) votes is under way in Dublin West, writes Sorcha Pollak.

Fianna Fáil deputy leader Jack Chambers topped the poll at 6.40pm on Saturday, securing 21.3 per cent of first-preference votes (9,446) in the first count, well above the required quota of 7,373. Sinn Féin’s Paul Donnelly was also elected on the first count with 17.4 per cent of first-preference votes.

Fine Gael Senator Emer Currie, Leo Varadkar’s 2020 running mate, was elected on the second count which was announced shortly before 10pm on Saturday. Ms Currie benefited significantly from Mr Chambers’s transfers and passed the quota with 7,579.

Two seats now remain in Dublin West – PBP-Solidarity’s Ruth Coppinger remains in fourth place and on track to secure the next seat. However, smaller party representatives believe transfers to the Green Party, Aontú and Labour could still shake things up.

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman, whose party suffered a serious blow on Saturday and is fighting to retain any of its seats, sits in fifth place in the Dublin West count. He’s followed by Labour’s John Walsh and Aontú's Ellen Troy.

It will be a long first day of Christmas in Phibblestown Community Centre.

Big update from Dublin Central from Sarah Burns.

Count number seven in now and over half of Malachy Steenson’s transfers have gone to Gerard Hutch.

Gary Gannon is set to be elected at the next count and stands just shy of the quota at 6,532 votes.

Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe is now at 5,856 votes, followed by IHutch on 4,995 votes, Labour’s Marie Sherlock on 2,990 votes and Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick on 2,646 votes.

The Green Party’s Neasa Hourigan’s 2,352 votes will now be distributed.

Counting resumed at 10am on Sunday in Dublin Mid West, with the swift elimination 40 minutes later of Fianna Fáil’s Lynda Predegast on the fourth count, writes Kitty Holland.

The distribution of her 879 votes is now under way and should favour her party colleague Shane Moynihan, currently on 4,822.

The quota in this five seater is 7,913. Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin was elected on the first count on Saturday, with 9,892 votes. His running mate Mark Ward will be elected this afternoon, currently on 6,871. The next home is expected to be Fine Gael’s Emer Higgins, currently marginally ahead of Moynihan and on 4,884.

Among the stories of this count will be Gino Kenny of People Before Profit who, barring a miracle, will lose his seat. Having held a seat here since 2016 and previously a South Dublin County councillor the Neilstown-based deputy is currently on 2,783 votes.

Assuming Moynihan takes a seat, the battle for the last seat will be between on Eoin Ó Broin (Social Democrats) on 3,151; Paul Gogarty (Independent) on 3,837 and Vicki Casserly (Fine Gael) on 3,822.

Would this fella be hedging his bets on the outcome, I wonder?

As yet unconfirmed reports of a big, big transfer of votes from Malachy Steenson to Gerry Hutch in Dublin Central. We will have the details of the latest count very shortly.

Fianna Fáil’s Albert Dolan has taken the second seat in Galway East and on his 26th birthday too.

Some top quality shoulder lifting captured by Liz Dunphy in Cork last night.

The season to be jolly is finally under way for independent Gavin Pepper, Olivia Kelly tells us. He had been lamenting earlier this week that he still hadn’t put up his Christmas decorations and chose to go to buy his Christmas tree yesterday instead of going to the count centre. Now he has been eliminated on the sixth count in Dublin North West

The count has been completed at the count centre in Ennis this morning, resulting in the elimination of Caitriona Ni Chathain (PBPS). The eighth count is now proceeding with the distribution of Ms Ni Chathain’s 924 votes, writes Gordon Deegan.

Another Green candidate crashes out - this time in Sligo Leitrim - with Blaithín Gallagher eliminated from the race after the second count, reports Arthur Beesley The distribution of her 782 votes is under way. We are still some time away from any candidate being elected. The front-runner, Frank Feighan of Fine Gael, is still 2,377 votes short of the 11,381 quota.

It’s all go in Fingal says Martin Wall.

After the sixth count in Fingal East, which saw the elimination of his running mate, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien of Fianna Fáil is about 60 votes shy of the quota. In neighbouring Fingal West a recount is likely following the elimination late last night of Lorraine Clifford Lee of Fianna Fáil. She was fewer than 40 votes behind independent Tony Murphy.

We have a first count in the five-seater Kildare North constituency.

James Lawless topped the poll with 8,734 votes, short of the 9,505 quota, reports Fiachra Gallagher.

Social Democrats’ Aidan Farrelly polled strongly with 7,611 votes. Mr Farrelly, a county councillor, is aiming to retain the Social Democrats’ seat in Kildare North following the retirement of former co-leader Catherine Murphy.

Sinn Féin Réada Cronin got the third-most first preference votes on 6,806. Fianna Fáil may be in with a shout of a second seat in Kildare North, with Maynooth-based county councillor Naoise Ó Cearúil polling on 5,672 first preferences.

Counting has resumed in Wicklow where Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is battling to hold on to his seat.

It is, says Carl O’Brien, a tight race between Donnelly (3,553 votes), Independent candidate and former Fine Gael Cllr Shay Cullen (3,232) and Fine Gael’s Cllr Edward Timmins (3,050).

Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady and Delgany-based Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore both look set to retain their seats.

A 5,000-plus surplus for Taoiseach Simon Harris - who was elected on the first count at 9.30pm on Saturday - is being counted this morning.

These transfers will play a key role in deciding where the final seat goes.

If party loyalty holds firm, Harris’s running mate Edward Timmins looks set to benefit most. Sample tallies indicate that as many as 40 per cent of his transfers will go to the west Wicklow based councillor.

Harris said on Saturday night he was “cautiously optimistic” that Timmins will get over the line.

However, tallies indicate that a smaller but significant proportion of Harris’s transfers - about 10 per cent - will go to Donnelly, who is also based in the Taoiseach’s hometown of Greystones.

Newtownmountkennedy-based Cllr Shay Cullen - formerly of Fine Gael - is expected to attract transfers from a range of candidates.

Party and regional loyalties will all have a role to play in determining where the final seat goes.

Most seasoned election observers, however, see Timmins as favourite to take a second seat for Fine Gael at the expense of Donnelly.

Counting is resuming in Dublin South Centralwhere no candidate has yet reached the quota, reports Sarah Burns.

Following the fifth count last night, Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh was top of the poll with 4,521 votes, followed by Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh on 4,027 votes and Sinn Féin’s Máire Devine with 3,872 votes.

People Before Profit’s Hazel de Nortúin is closely behind her with 3,422 votes, followed by the Social Democrats Jen Cummins with 3,383 votes, Sinn Féin’s Daithí Doolan with 3,328 votes and Fine Gael’s Mary Seery Kearney with 3,081 votes.

The four-seat constituency returned no Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil TD in 2020 and has been dubbed the ‘People’s Republic of Dublin South Central’. Is Ardagh, the daughter of the late Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh, about to change that?

The fight for the last seat in Dublin Central is indisputably the highest-stakes and highest-profile race going, writes Jack Horgan-Jones.

Gangland figure Gerry Hutch, who has been named by the Garda as the head of an organised crime group, is in the seats contention with an 813-vote lead on Marie Sherlock.

His first-preference vote was way bigger than anyone expected, at more than 3,000 votes, keeping him ahead of a pack that would otherwise have expected to have reeled him in. Things were looking even rosier for him last night until the distribution of PBP’s Eoghan O’Ceannabhain’s votes.

These heavily favoured Social Democrat’s Gary Gannon, promoting him to second in the running order and putting him within a couple of hundred votes of taking a seat.

This matters because the only realistic challenger to Hutch is Labour Senator Marie Sherlock, who needs all the left and centre candidate votes to gravitate towards her to challenge Hutch – most crucially, the Green’s Neasa Hourigan, who will be eliminated next.

A series of unlikely things now need to happen for Sherlock to prevail: firstly, Gannon needs to be elected as soon as possible, or else he will soak up some of the Green transfers.

Malachy Steenson, the far right candidate, has been eliminated and the next thing to happen is his votes are distributed. He is a polar opposite to Gannon, but there might be enough inner city votes to transfer to Gannon, who is geographically close to Steenson.

If Gannon is elected, then the path is clear for Hourigan to transfer heavily to Sherlock. If he’s not (and Steenson will definitely transfer heavily to Hutch) then the hill gets a bit steeper.

If Gannon has to wait for Hourigan’s vote to be elected, some, but not all of it will make its way to Sherlock. After Hourigan is eliminated and the vote distributed, we will know exactly the gap that must be closed – but Sherlock has to start closing it, and fast, as the odds of her being elected by Mary Fitzpatrick are not great.

The Fianna Fáil Senator is more likely to elect Paschal Donohoe to the third seat, and votes – especially at the scale needed – will be scarce for Sherlock.

It is a very narrow path, but as we write on Sunday morning, it is a path nonetheless.

All eyes will be on Dublin Central today, where Gerard “The Monk” Hutch is in contention to become a TD, writes Sarah Burns.

The sixth count was completed at around 11pm last night, which had Social Democrats Gary Gannon on 6,363 votes, just shy of meeting the quota.

He was followed by Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe on 5,730 votes, Hutch on 3,733 votes, Labour’s Marie Sherlock on 2,917 votes and Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick on 2,553 votes. Independent Malachy Steenson was eliminated and his 2,195 votes will be distributed when counting resumes this morning at 10am.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll in the four-seat constituency and was elected on the third count yesterday evening.

Counting has restarted in Mayo. Nobody elected so far. Distribution under way of Stephen Kerr’s votes. Rose Conway is approximately 400 short of the quota. She is likely to be elected on the sixth or seventh count followed home later by Alan Dillon and Dara Calleary. A ding-dong battle will ensue for the fourth and fifth seats.

Counting back under way in Galway West – after counters were given a lecture about not to engage in social media while they are involved in the counting process.

Mattie McGrath is expected to be the next TD to be elected in Tipperary.

The Independent topped the poll in Tipperary South but was just shy of the votes he needed to reach the quota.

He said yesterday when he attended the Thurles count centre that he and the rest of the Rural Independents Group of TDs he is in will “talk to anybody who wants to talk to us” about the next Programme for Government.

“I’m delighted that all that hard work by my team, my office and myself has paid off,” he said.

“There is no replacement for hard work.

“Hopefully all of my colleagues in the Rural Independents group will get back in and we look forward to talks for the Programme for Government.”

Michael Lowry was the first TD to be elected, topping the poll last night in Tipperary North.

Very early this morning Social Democrats party leader Holly Cairns was elected in the three-seat Cork South-West constituency on the 19th count, reports David Forsythe.

Ms Cairns whose total vote of 11,962 exceeded the quota of 11,824 was not present at the count centre in Mallow as she gave birth to her daughter on election day.

A Social Democrats spokesperson said: “The party is delighted to be able to show our support for our leader Holly Cairns, while Holly is unable to be here herself her campaign team are cheering her on in the early hours of the morning. We are delighted with the performance put in by Social Democrats candidates right across the country.”

Fewer than a quarter of the seats were filled on the first day of counting but our Political Editor Pat Leahy identified some of the key things we have learned so far.

• Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are on their way back to government
• It’s the end of the Greens. For now, anyway.
• It’s a glass half-empty/glass half-full election for Sinn Féin
• Voters may be about to elect one of Ireland’s notorious criminals to the Dáil
• There is a massive generational divide in Irish politics.

You’ll find all the details on the five Saturday night takeaways here.

The second day of counting will see a more complete picture of what the next Dáil will look like emerge, with – hopefully – most of the seats filled by the late evening.

It already seems certain that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will form part of a future government with a combined seat total of in excess of 80.

Senior sources are suggesting that they will most likely seek a coalition deal with both Labour and the Social Democrats in the coming weeks.

But there are a lot of votes still to count before then. And there was a lot of counting happening overnight too.