Election 2024 results live updates: Green leader Roderic O’Gorman holds seat making him the party’s only TD

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.
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.
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.
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 shakeout 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 Fail’s Jim O’Callaghan comfortably retained their seats.
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.
In the end, geography sent two Lucan-based candidates – Shane Moynihan (Fianna Fail) 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 Fein 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.
Final count results for Dublin Rathdown are expected soon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
We liked this post from Noel Rock, who has always been a glass half-full type of politician. Upbeat even in defeat.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.