Main Points

European Election Count

• Dublin: White smoke from the RDS count centre. Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews, Fine Gael candidate Regina Doherty, Sinn Féin candidate and past MEP Lynn Boylan as well as Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin were elected following the 19th count with Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan being eliminated. See the final results in full here
• Ireland South: Incumbent Sean Kelly (FG) was the first MEP elected. Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (FF) could win a second seat, alongside Billy Kelleher. Michael McNamara (Ind), Grace O’Sullivan (GP) and Mick Wallace (Ind) are also in the mix. The results are here
• Midlands-North-West: Sinn Féin has said it will lose its seat in the constituency. Sitting MEPs Luke Ming Flanagan (Ind) and Maria Walsh (FG) look likely to keep their seats with Barry Cowen (FF) and Nina Carberry (FG) polling strongly as is Ciaran Mullooly. Sinn Féin are at risk of losing their seat in Brussels. The results in detail will be available here

Limerick Mayoral Election

• John Moran (Independent) has been declared the first ever directly elected Mayor of Limerick City and County having topped the poll on 28,451 votes after the final count

Local Election Count

• Just three seats remain to filled out of 949 – in the Newbridge Local Electoral Area in Co Kildare where a third recount continued late into the night
• Fianna Fáil is slightly ahead of Fine Gael for the majority of seats across local government
• Sinn Féin now has 102 seats which is an improvement on its disastrous 2019 election

Key pieces

• Europe: Who is still in line for a seat and where will the transfers flow?
• Local: Three places that tell the story of the local elections
• Analysis: Questions on Mary Lou McDonald’s leadership were always off-limits – until now
• Limerick: From crisis-era mandarin to State’s first directly-elected mayor, who is John Moran?
• Live coverage of the election counts: The Irish Times will continue its comprehensive live coverage of all three counts on Monday with up-to-the-minute news, analysis and detailed results from each council and constituency. You can select from the drop-down menu below to find the results in your area

So where are we now?

1. The Local Electoins.

As you can see from my Tweet there are only three seats left to be filled.

Recounts in several counties concluded tonight with both Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Offaly getting over the line. The only LEA yet to complete its counting is Newbridge in Co Kildare. It’s now going through its third recount after two candidates, Mellisa Byrne of Aontú, and Sinn Féin’s James Stokes, finished on equal votes. Byrne was to progress because she was higher in the first count. But a recount was called.

Fianna Fáíl will be the largest party and will end up with 248 seats. The Social Democrats also had impressive local elections.

2. European Elections

Dublin, as we know is over, with Sinn Féin salvaging a win for Lynn Boylan and Labour having a massive coup by getting Aodhán Ó Riordáin over the line. They join poll toppers Barry Andrews (FF) and Regina Doherty (FG). Sean Kelly (FG) remains the only other MEP elected. In his constituency of Ireland South, they have just finished the 9th count and it could be Thursday before the final outcome is known. Billy Kelleher (FF) is assured of a seat. After that it’s a little trickier. Michael McNamara (Ind) and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (FF) look the strongest of the chasing pack but then Kathleen Funchion (SF); Mick Wallace (Ind) and Grace O’Sullivan (GP) are still hanging in there.

In MNW nobody is close to going over the quota but four candidates are so far ahead of the rest - Luke Ming Flanagan (Ind); Barry Cowen (FF); Nina Carbery (FG); and Maria Walsh (FG) - that they won’t be caught. Ciarán Mullooly (Ind) might be caught but he does have a cushion of over 10,000 votes that might be hard to bridge for Sinn Féin of Lisa Chambers of Fianna Fáil. I would not be surprised if that election does not conclude until Friday.

3. Mayoral Election

Neatest result of the day. Limerick has a new directly-elected Mayor. It’s John Moran who is a very interesting person with very strong views. It will be fascinating to see how he pioneers the role in the city and county.

And that’s it until tomorrow. Good night. I’ll leave you with a great pic, which shows a moment of pure joy.

Telling Comments from Ó Ríordáin and Bacik

In two interviews shortly after Aodhán Ó Riordáin’s success, he and party leader Ivana Bacik were candid about the impact that the win would have. Both also spoke about the need for a wider left-of-centre movement , comments which were presumably aimed at the Social Democrats and the Green Party.

Ó Ríordáin: “This has been it’s been a rough number of years but Ivana’s win in the by-election changed the entire dynamic of this party.

“She showed us that with a level of integrity in politics, and being unwavering in your belief in social justice, we can win again.

“I don’t think many people gave us a chance. But we’ve won.

“It’s been a very emotional year for me. After the riots in November I thought that maybe Dublin needs a better voice

The win for Labour means that we’re back and we’re going to win even more as the General Election comes into focus.”

Bacik: “It means a huge amount to us and I just want to pay huge tribute to Aodhán and to his campaign team for what was an incredibly positive, dynamic, energetic campaign for the love of Dublin.

“The slogan really summed up, I think, what we were about and that resonated with people. They wanted to hear that positive message of constructive change that we’ve been putting forward.

“I want want to pay tribute also to Ciarán Cuffe who ran a really honourable campaign. He has been a really dedicated MEP. There is a future for the progressive central left and green movement in Ireland and we want to see that future develop. That’s why we are in politics, because we want to see greater support for those values of equality, solidarity and fairness and for environmental and social justice.”

What can we take from the Dublin EU Parliament election?

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin gave the most honest reaction to his victory in the Dublin European elections. “It is an out of body experience,” he said.

In fact, the emotion etched on the new MEP’s face in this post on X from Senator Rebecca Moynihan tells you how much it means. Getting over the line, getting your MEP elected, is so important for the parties.

1. For Fianna Fáil, Barry Andrews poll-topping performance shows is a corrective to its poorish showing in the local elections in the capital. He is also the first Fianna Fáil MEP to retain a seat since the 1980s. It will allow the party to show that it can compete in the city.

2. For Fine Gael, retaining its seat was also important. Frances Fitzgerald was retiring. Regina Doherty had never represented a Dublin constituency. The party has never lost a European election here. A solid win was needed, to show that the energy injected by new leader Simon Harris was bearing fruit.

3. For Sinn Féin, its ambitions changed in the weeks leading up to the election as it realised the vessel was holed and shipping water. With the party polling poorly in the locals and in the other two European constituencies, the party needed a big performance in Dublin. Initially, the two-candidate strategy looked like it would backfire. Boylan’s first count total was lowish. But then Daithí Doolan sent over 70 per cent of his votes to her on transfers and she proved to be very transfer-friendly from other candidates. Her comfortable win will do a little to salvage a poor election for her party.

4. For the Labour Party it means everything. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin was always a strong candidate but it was a big ask for him to get elected. His success will do a lot to deliver Labour from almost a decade of purdah after the 2011 to 2016 government. With the future of the party being questioned so often, this victory will give it a spectacular psychological boost and allow the party to say it is on the way to recovery. That victory will make Labour and the Social Democrats the big party winners from this election.

Kelleher moves slowly towards quota in Ireland South

Barry Roche writes

Sitting Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher is inching his way back to Brussels as he remained on course to take the second seat in the five seat constituency but it may well be late into Wednesday evening before he finally secures victory.

Mr Kelleher polled 91,074 first preferences, over 23,000 votes short of the 114,761 quota and picked up 1,963 votes from the surplus of poll topping Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly’s 122,776, he was making slow progress to garner the near 21,000 votes he needs to cross the line.

Seven counts later after the elimination of Independents, Ciaran O’Riordan, Christopher VS Doyle, Graham De Barra, Una McGurk, Ross Lahive of Irish People and Cian Prendeville of People Before Profit/Solidarity, Mr Kelleher had gained only 740 votes to reach a total of 93,777.

Behind Mr Kelleher, the contest for the final three seats was far less clear with at least four and possibly five candidates in contention with less than 10,000 votes separating third place Independent Michael McNamara and Grace O’Sullivan of the Green Party in seventh spot.

Mr McNamara had accumulated 58,897 at the end of the seventh count followed by Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ni Murchu on 57,144, Independents4Change Mick Wallace on 55,967, Kathleen Funcheon of Sinn Féin on 52,106 and Ms O’Sullivan the back marker on 49,287.

But there is still much to play for with Ms O’Sullivan hoping a decent transfer from former Green Party councillor and leader of An Rabharta Glass, Lorna Bogue, who was on 10,079 at the end of the eighth count, would help her narrow the gap to Ms Funcheon.

Ms Funcheon was equally hoping that a strong transfer from her Sinn Féin running mate, Paul Gavan, who was on 23,242 at the end of the eighth count, would help her leapfrog Mr McNamara, Ms Ní Mhurchú and Mr Wallace to the front of the chasing pack.

All five candidates but especially Ms O’Sullivan and Mr Wallace are also hoping for a decent share of the 44,000 plus votes accumulated by Labour’s Niamh Hourigan and Susan Doyle of the Social Democrats with the hope of pushing them up the field and staying in the race.

Equally intriguing is the destination of over 50,000 right leaning votes accumulated by Derek Blighe of Ireland First, Michael Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party and Independent, Mary Fitzgibbon who is campaigning for the right to life, tighter immigration and sovereignty.

Earlier right winger Ross Lahive was eliminated with 4,636 and fellow right winger, Derek Blighe took 791 while Michael Leahy took 601 but the remainder went in every direction and if those 45,000 right wing votes splinter in a similar way, then the transfers may cancel each other out.

Campaign managers for the five candidates in the chasing pack were also exercised about the destination of the 36,599 votes of Fine Gael’s John Mullins with much speculation on where they would go given that his running mate, Sean Kelly was already elected.

Many believe that it may be Mr Mullins votes that will finally get Mr Kelleher over the line on the basis that they are both from Cork but it’s where the remainder of his transfers go as well as the 21,903 of Clare based Independent Eddie Punch that could determine the last three seats.

A third count is under way tonight to fill the final seats on Kildare County Council.

So far, far 37 of the forty seats available across eight local electoral areas have been filled.

Three councillors have already been elected to the six seat Newbridge LEA, all sitting councillors.

Two of the final three seats look set to go to another two sitting councillors – Noel Heavey and Rob Power, son of former TD and Minister for State Sean Power. Both are comfortably ahead of the rest.

The final seat is almost certainly a three way scrap between teenage Sinn Féin candidate James Stokes, who has campaigned on Travellers’ mental health issues; Aontú’s Melissa Byrne and independent Tom McDonnell.

At the end of the last recount Stokes was eliminated. He finished with the same number of votes as Byrne – but he lost out because he had less first preference votes (643 to 691) than her.

However, shortly afterwards Sinn Féin requested another recount, reportedly on the basis that the quota had changed by a single vote for the final count (1664 to 1663).

The count is taking place at the Punchestown Racecourse, near Naas, and count staff hope to continue working through the night.

All four Dublin MEPs have been elected following the elimination of Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan.

Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews, Fine Gael candidate Regina Doherty, Sinn Féin candidate and former MEP Lynn Boylan as well as Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin were elected following the 19th count.

Both Andrews and Doherty exceeded the quota and were elected. Returning officer Fergus Gallagher said that Ó Ríordáin and Lynn Boylan were deemed elected without reaching the quota.

The Labour Party TD received an enormous transfer from the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe who was eliminated in the last count. He received a total of 16,614 transfers, more than twice the amount of any other candidate.

Pat Rabbitte, former leader of the party, described it as a “spectacular result” and said that Ó Riordáin was a politician of exceptional calibre.

Niall Boylan who had been ahead of Ó Ríordáin going into the last count, received only 926 votes, leaving him over 13,000 votes behind Ó Ríordáin.

Newbridge or Nowhere again – a third count is ordered in this Co Kildare LEA

The drama in Newbridge has been extraordinary. After a second recount in the local electoral area, the Aontú candidate Melissa Byrne and Sinn Féin’s 18-year old candidate, James Stokes, ended up equal on votes, with Stokes being eliminated because he was behind after the first count.

Both candidates are about 60 votes behind another candidate.

But now a third recount has been ordered.

The Leaders are gathered in the RDS

Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Labour leader Ivana Bacik are all in the RDS at the moment awaiting the final declaration, after the 19th count.

Niall Boylan (Ind) is still leading Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin by 2,500 votes but nobody is under any illusion that the Dublin Bay North TD will easily overtake the radio presenter who has campaigned on migration in the final count

It is Ciarán Cuffe of the Greens who has been eliminated after all and the biggest portion of his 43,582 are expected to go in directions other than for Niall Boylan.

The quota is 75,000 and one of the top after the first count could get past it, possibly Regina Doherty.

It is only a detail as we know who the MEPs from Dublin will be.

Cuffe has been magnanimous in defeat and has received messages of commiseration from politicians from across-the-board.

It is all over in Offaly with Sinn Féin increasing its seat tally to three

Ellen O’Riordan reports

The Offaly count has finally finished, with Fianna Fáil’s Audrey Hennessy Kennedy and Sinn Féin’s Sean Maher taking the final two seats after a full recount in Birr.

Maher’s spot came at the expense of outgoing councillor Clare Claffey of the Social Democrats. She had asked for the recount after finishing just 27 votes behind Maher on the 12th and would-be final count.

Despite four errors being spotted by counters during the rerun, she failed to overtake her nearest rival and was 26 votes behind in the final tally.

The election of Maher, who was a councillor from 2014 to 2019, brings Sinn Féin’s seats in Offaly to three, which is three more than the party had during the last term.

Eighth Count in Midlands North West is declared

Fiachra Gallagher writes

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has broken the 80,000 vote mark – he’s on 80,484 now – following the eight count in Midlands-North-West, but the poll-topper is still has a ways to go to reach the quota of 113,325.

He is followed closely(ish) by Nina Carberry (Fine Gael) on 74,955 and Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil) on 74,488.

Independent Michelle Smith, an anti-immigration candidate who led protests against the housing of asylum seekers at a hotel in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo earlier this year, was eliminated following the eighth count. Her 7,102 votes will be distributed in the ninth count.

People Before Profit takes last seat on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council

Marie O’Halloran writes

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown count has finished. People Before Profit candidate Dave O’Connell has taken the last seat in the Killiney-Shankill electoral area to give the party two seats in the 40-seat council.

After a very tight contest and full recount the former councillor won by six votes from Sinn Féin newcomer Roland Kennedy. The result has dashed Sinn Féin’s hopes of any seats on the council after they lost the three they held in 2019.

Look who has turned up at the RDS.

It’s David McSavage, the comedian who also happens to be the brother of Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews. Brian Mahon of the Mail saw him having a chat with Micheál Martin.

Nina Carberry has made an appearance ... but on her Instagram story.

One of the only candidates that has yet to make an appearance at the MNW count centre in Castlebar has been Nina Carberry. Indeed, she has been as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel (to the media in any instance) during the course of the campaign and has done no national interviews, as far as we can ascertain.

The good news is that she has finally put in an appearance to thank her supporters. But only on social media.

Meanwhile in MNW and Ireland South ...

While Dublin goes on to Count 19, the other two constituencies are lagging behind. In terms of voting piles, they have not left the foothills yet, with candidates with less than 10,000 votes still being excluded. Ireland South is on the seventh count while it is Count 8 in Midlands-North-West (MNW).

Earlier Sinn Féin candidate Michelle Gildernew told our reporter Fiachra Gallagher in Castlebar that she was “resigned” to not winning a seat.

But that was before the arrival of Pearse Doherty.

The Sinn Féin deputy leader arrived into the count centre at the TF Royal late afternoon and immediately put the record straight.

Doherty said it would be Wednesday (poor Fiachra!) before the “real lie of the land” would become apparent.

“In a situation like this where we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of votes that have yet to be eliminated before we actually see who’s going to take that final seat. I think it’s very early days,” Doherty told The Irish Times’ Fiachra Gallagher in the count centre.

Barry Roche has been following the equally absorbing (sometimes) slow bicycle race in Ireland South, where the amazing volunteers of Nemo Rangers GAA club have been trying to keep everybody fed and happy.

It’s likely counting will continue there until 10.30pm and then resume in the morning. It’s also unlikely that Billy Kelleher will get over the quota tonight.

As for the others vying for seats three, four, and five, the comments of Pearse Doherty might apply there too, as it could be Tuesday night, or Wednesday before we see the lie of the land.

Ciarán Cuffe exits graciously

Unlike the other losing MEP in Dublin, Clare Daly, who metaphorically slammed the door on her way out, the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe was gracious in defeat. A short while a go he posted this very very generous message on social media.

Jennifer Carroll-McNeill did not hold back in celebrations last night.

Ciarán Cuffe has been eliminated in Dublin

Jack White writes

Ciarán Cuffe has become the second outgoing MEP to lose his seat after being eliminated following the 18th count.

Cuffe lay 1,500 votes behind Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin after Clare Daly’s elimination and was hoping to make up the difference when her votes were transferred.

However, Ó Riordáin and the Independent candidate Niall Boylan both stayed ahead of the Green Party, MEP, who topped the poll in 2019.

His votes will now be distributed and are expected to elect both Lynn Boylan and Ó Ríordáin along with poll toppers Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil and Regina Doherty of Fine Gael.

If Ó Riordáin is successful, it will give a substantial fillip to the Labour Party and to its leader Ivana Bacik.

Cuffe finished with 43,582 votes after receiving 3,189 transfers from Clare Daly, who was eliminated following the 17th count.

Just five candidates remain for the four-seat constituency with Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews leading 69,110 votes and Fine Gael candidate Regina Doherty at 68,725 votes

Sinn Féin candidate and former MEP Lynn Boylan remains in third place jumping to 64,586 votes after receiving the most transfers from Daly’s votes (11,338).

Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan is currently placed fourth at 49,490 followed by Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (46,913 votes). However, it is certain that Ó Ríordáin will be the main beneficiary of Cuffe’s transfers and they are likely to take him over the line ahead of Niall Boylan.

After a disappointing first count showing, Lynn Boylan has looked comfortable through successive counts as she has picked up transfers steadily, especially from left-wing candidates.

It is now likely that all four who are likely to be elected – Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty, Lynn Boylan and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin – will be elected without reaching the quota of 75,000.

A profile of John Moran

Eoin-Burke Kennedy gives some deep insight on John Moran, and what makes him tick, in this comprehensive and readable profile.

[ From crisis-era mandarin to State’s first directly-elected mayor, who is John Moran?Opens in new window ]

John Moran says the Limerick Mayoral election campaign was like job interview

Moran has been telling reporters that the approach of Limerick people to the mayoral election was very different.

“It was like a job interview,” he said.

“People were looking for what were the right policies for Limerick and for who was the right person who was able to deliver them,” he said.

He said he had brought an evidence-based plan for the future of Limerick which he will now implement.

His closest rival Helen O’Donnell congratulated him. “I look forward to his visions for Limerick being realised over the next five years,” she said.

Moran predicted other cities would soon follow the example set by Limerick voters.

“This is going to change the way that government and democracy works in Ireland, not just here in Limerick,” he told RTE’s Six One News.

“I think for 100 years now we’ve been taking power away from places like Limerick and I’m putting my money on it that in five years’ time Cork and Waterford and indeed Dublin will be rushing to want a plebiscite to change their minds and come back to the way Limerick people voted [for a locally elected mayor] five years ago.”

Mr Moran said many conversations had already taken place with newly elected councillors and officials about “hitting the ground running” later this week with respect to the city and county’s unprecedented new system of local governance.

He said the appointment of a mayor would lead to changes in the roles of councillors and TDs.

“The councillors will actually find themselves ... with a lot more decision making that I think they are ready and up for,” he said.

“This role is above party politics. In order to be able to work with all those councillors, indeed in order to be able to work with the government ministers that will also be part of the decision making process, I think the advantage that comes from being an independent is huge because essentially what you can do now is put Limerick first and you don’t have to worry about what party politics says.”

And then there were six in Dublin

We are down to the last six candidates for the four-seater Dublin constituency.

The elimination of Clare Daly makes the paths to victory for others less complicated.

The outgoing MEP will rue that she refused to agree a voting pact with Bríd Smith.

Smith transferred 6,464 votes from her total of 28,772, which was less that was expected. Smith and the PBP transferred far more generously to Daly in the past.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Lynn Boylan benefited almost as much from Smith’s transfers with Boylan getting almost 5,000 and Ó Ríordáin getting around 4,500 additional votes

Ó Ríordáin’s total is now 41,911 which puts him over 1,500 ahead of the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe.

Lynn Boylan is safe. She has 53,248 votes, over 8,000 ahead of her namesake Niall Boylan, who is on 44,392.

Crucially, the gap between Niall Boylan and Ó Ríordáin is just over 3,000

I can’t see Niall Boylan holding on unless he registers a huge transfer from Clare Daly. Whichever of Cuffe or Ó Riordáin is eliminated will transfer heavily to the other centre left candidate, taking him clear of the Independent Ireland candidate.

Ciarán Cuffe’s only hope is that he gets enough transfers from Daly to overtake Ó Riordáin.

Great moment for John Moran

He wasn’t the strongest performer in the debates but the former secretary general of the Department of Finance had forged a very strong reputation as an advocate for Limerick over the past number of the years.

It was a resounding victory in the end. He held a big advantage after the first count that he maintained through all subsequent counts.

Here our reporter David Raleigh has a picture of him surrounded by relations and supporters as they wait for the final declaration to be made.

Why is the Planning Bill being guillotined? Is it a sign of an early election?

News came through this afternoon that the report and final stage debate on the mammoth Planning Bill in the Dáil will be guillotined when the debate on it concludes tomorrow night.

It immediately led to speculation that this is part of a new strategy by the Government to prepare the ground for an early election. This Bill is one of the critical ‘must dos’ for the Coalition and the final verdict on Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien will partly rely on its passing.

The Government spokesman denied to Pat Leahy today that this was the case.

But it has nonetheless stoked a huge amount of speculation that the planning is already under way for an early election. that a

In the Dáil today, Taoiseach Simon Harris said that a general election will be held in due course. He as responding to questions from People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy to call an election. He also accused Harris of cynically using immigration as an issue to hide the Government’s policies on housing, health and public services.

Marie O’Halloran has the full details of the exchanges.

Clare Daly’s parting shot

John Moran has been elected as first directly-elected Mayor of Limerick

Independent John Moran maintained his lead of over 5,000 to comfortably win the historic mayoral election in Limerick

After the final count, he had 28,451 votes compared to 23,829 for his closest rival Helen O’Donnell, another independent candidate. This came after the elimination of Fianna Fáil’s Dee Ryan.

Clare Daly has been eliminated

The outgoing MEP Clare Daly has been eliminated following the 17th count of votes in the Dublin constituency.

Daly was on almost 33,000 votes following the 16th count, some 5,000 votes behind her closest rivals Aodhán Ó Riordáin and Ciarán Cuffe.

She was hoping that she would get enough transfers from People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith who was on 28,772 votes.

However, in the 17th count she did not get sufficient votes to overtake her rivals and has been eliminated.

Daly finished with 39,334 votes after receiving 6,464 transfers from Bríd Smith.

Lynn Boylan received a considerable 5,899 transfers bringing her to 53,248 votes.

Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan remains in fourth place with 44,932 votes followed by Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordán who now has 41,911.

Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe is now placed last with 40,393 votes.

Limerick Mayoral Declaration Imminent

Our reporter at Limerick Racecourse David Raleigh says that an announcement is imminent as to who will be the next Mayor of Limerick. Unless there is a seismic shock in the last count it is going to be John Moran.

Bríd Smith’s parting shot: Parties of the left need to unite

Jack White writes

Parties on the left need to be “less precious” and form a united front going forward, according to People Before Profit candidate Bríd Smith, who was eliminated following the 16th count.

Smith finished in eighth place with 28,772 votes, the bulk of which she hopes will be transferred to MEP Clare Daly.

She said it was a “big mistake” that parties on the left did not co-operate in the lead-up to elections through a vote-left transfer-left pact.

“We wrote to them all and asked them to call for this, we didn’t get any responses. I think it’s a big mistake and I think the left in general, the soft left and the hard left, need to cop on and grow up and not be so precious about themselves,” she said.

Smith called on parties on the left to co-operate, and “stop defending their territory”.

“What you get is Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil transferring with each other but the left apparently don’t,” she said.

The TD for Dublin South Central reaffirmed that she would not stand in the next general election, saying she wants to see “younger women dominate Dáil Éireann”, particularly the party’s recently re-elected Dublin city councillor Hazel De Nortúin.

“But I’m sure I’ll be outside the Dáil screaming and roaring at those inside after the next general election,” she said.

Carlow count finally concludes

Suzanne Pender writes

After a mammoth four days of counting and rechecking the 18-seats on Carlow County Council have finally been filled.

Overall there was a gain of one seat for Sinn Féin at the expense of Fianna Fáil.

The main drama came from a tense recounts in the Tullow LEA, which saw just two votes separated three candidates for the final two seats. It required two recounts to separate the candidates.

In a nail-biting conclusion, in the initial count, Fine Gael’s Brian O’Donoghue was on 894 votes, Sinn Féin’s Jim Deane on 893 and Fine Gael’s Catherine Callaghan on 892 votes.

Deane secured the seat following Tuesday’s second recount bringing the party’s representation on the council to two, while sitting councillor O’Donoghue held off the strong performance by party colleague and first-time candidate Callaghan.

Overall it was a solid election for Fine Gael, retaining their six seats and welcoming some new faces to the council including 21-year-old Ben Ward in Tullow LEA and Paul Doogue in Carlow LEA.

Fianna Fáil dropped from six seats to five on the local authority. A strong performance by 24-year-old Daniel Pender (FF) saw him take a seat in Muinebheag LEA from party colleague Arthur McDonald, ending his 39-year political career.

There was a devastating loss too for Fine Gael’s Tom O’Neill in Carlow LEA and Fianna Fáil’s John McDonald in Tullow LEA.

Much joy for the LEA’s three poll toppers – Tommy Kinsella (FG) in Muinebheag LEA with 1,732 first preferences, John Pender (FF) in Tullow LEA with 1,335 first preferences and Fintan Phelan in Carlow LEA with 1,678 first preferences.

John Pender’s election makes him the longest servicing councillor in the county with 39 years service and the only Co Carlow councillor in the county ever to successfully contest eight elections.

Update from Ireland South

Barry Roche writes

Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher has taken another step along his long path to election after he picked up 47 votes from Independent candidate, Ciaran O’Riordan who was eliminated with 2,485.

Mr O’Riordan who campaigned against what he claimed was the deceptive narrative on climate change and the sexual indoctrination of children, was eliminated at the end of the second count

Interestingly among the contenders for the last three seats, Independent Michael McNamara stretched his lead over his rivals picking up 292 votes with Mick Wallace picking up 235.

Among their main rivals for the last three seats, Grace O’Sullivan of the Green Party picked up 71 votes, Cynthia Ni Mhurchu of Fianna Fáil picked up 69 votes and Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funcheon gained 32 votes

Funcheon’s hopes of getting elected will largely depend on a significant transfer from running mate, Paul Gavan from Limerick who is on 22, 530. The he party has a good record on transferring votes between its candidates and Daithí Doolan transferred some 70 per cent of his total to running mate Lynn Boylan.

Both O’Sullivan and Wallace will be vying for significant transfers from Cian Prendiville of People Before Profit/Solidarity with 6,340 and Niamh Hourigan of Labour on 21,566 as well as Susan Doyle of the Social Democrats, who is on 20,372.

Much attention will also be focused on anti-immigrant campaigners, Derek Blighe of Ireland First, who has 25,263 votes, Michael Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party, who has 12,476 and Ross Lahive of the Irish People, who has 4,574. Just where they go is anyone’s guess at this stage.

And it’s a good afternoon from me, Harry McGee. After seeing this inspiring tweet by Dan McCarthy – who was elected on to Kerry County Council from the Kenmare LEA – I have been practising my moves all day and will be showcasing my co-ordinated, twee, sometimes corny but always compelling, routine for the rest of the day.

The Dublin Count is nearing its moment of truth

We are on Count 17 in the Dublin constituency and this is where the election will be decided. Bríd Smith has almost 29,000 votes to distribute.

Our detailed data on each count in is available here.

The last time Bríd Smith was in a European election in Dublin 10 years ago she distributed 8,000 of her 25,500 votes to Paul Murphy, then with the Socialist Party. She also distributed 5,000 to Lynn Boylan. In 2019, the PBP candidate Gillian Brien had about 14,000 votes when she was eliminated and distributed 4,000 to Daly.

Will she transfer 8,000 votes to Clare Daly that would bring her ahead of both Ciaran Cuffe and Aodhan Ó Riordáin? There have been different views on that coming from the count centre with some saying she has not transferred

Lynn Boylan should also expect more transfers from Smith than Cuffe and Ó Riordáin.

If Daly goes ahead, then whoever of the two centre-left candidates is behind will be eliminated and his transfers could put the other in a strong position to win the seat. Even though Boylan is currently 6,000 votes to the good, it is hard to see him hanging on.

There could be some Smith supporters who will transfer to him, but they are at opposite ends of the spectrum in most things, except in terms of both having an anti-establishment status.

And that’s it from me, Conor Pope, for today. I will leave you in the very capable hands of Harry McGee.

NEWS SNAP: Sinn Féin are on the verge of losing their only seat in the Midlands-North-West constituency, Michelle Gildernew has admitted.

“We’re probably resigned to the fact at this stage that we won’t win the fifth seat,” she said, speaking to reporters at the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar.

“We didn’t get the result we wanted, we’re still in the mix, but I’m probably not over optimistic I can overtake Ciaran Mullooly at this stage. I think he’s probably going to scrape in with the last seat. That’s just the nature of elections.”

Labour and Greens benefit most from Soc Dems elimination

Labour Party candidate Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe were the big winners when it came to Sinéad Gibney’s transfers following the 16th count in the Dublin constituency, writes Jack White.

Ó Ríordáin received 4,433 transfers bringing him to 37,403 votes while Cuffe received 3,207 and currently stands slightly ahead with 37,842.

However, Ó Ríordáin is currently placed 6th, while Cuffe is placed fifth for the four-seat constituency.

People Before Profit candidate Bríd Smith has been eliminated following the sixteenth count, finishing with 28,772 votes.

Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan was brought slightly more ahead of Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan’s 43,642 after the transfers and now stands at 47,349 votes.

Clare Daly is now placed last out of the remaining seven candidates.

NEWS SNAP: And we have news of the second count in Ireland South. Unsurprisingly, a big chunk of Sean Kelly’s surplus – 2,633 votes – has gone to running mate John Mullins. FF’s Billy Kelleher picked up 1,973 votes while his running mate Cynthia Ní Mhurchú got 770 votes.

NEWS SNAP: And we have big news from Limerick where Dee Ryan (FF) has been excluded on Count 11 of the Directly Elected Mayor election at the Limerick Count Centre, having achieved 18,875 votes. Ms Ryan’s votes will now be distributed among the two remaining candidates left in the mayoral race, including John Moran IND, who is on 24,958 votes, and Helen O’Donnell IND on 19,353 votes. There should be a result from there pretty soon.

NEWS SNAP: An important update from Dublin. The votes of the Social Democrats candidate Sinead Gibney have been distributed and PBB candidate Brid Smith has been eliminated.

Labour’s Áodhan Ó Riordan did the best out of Gibney’s transfers picking up 4,433 votes taking him to a total of 37,403. The Green Party’s Ciaran Cuffe picked up 3,207 votes which brings him up to 37,842. Lynn Boylan got 1,569 votes which puts her on 47,349. Clare Daly got 1,482 which takes her to 32,870 and Niall Boylan got 407 and he is now on 43,642.

The destination of Smith’s votes is likely to prove crucial.

No early election, definitely not, no siree Bob

But what’s this from Political Editor Pat Leahy?

“The Government has announced that it is going to guillotine the mammoth planning bill that has been before the Oireachtas for months. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Government is clearing the decks for a general election. The bill was probably always going to be guillotined at some stage. But if you were planning a general election, that’s the sort of thing you would have to do ...”

McGrath says he is planning for an October budget

There is support among some in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for an early election given the outcome of the Local Election for their parties and Sinn Féin’s poor performance and one suggestion is that the Budget should be brought forward to September, reports Cormac McQuinn.

If that happened there would be enough time to get the necessary legislation for its implementation, the Finance Bill, over the line before an October polling day.

At a press conference today the Minister for Finance Michael McGrath spoke of the difficulty of having an early Budget and said the plan is to deliver it in October but he did not quite go so far as to rule out a September date.

The Budget was announced at the end of September in 2022 amid the cost-of-living crisis that year.

Asked if there are preparations being made in the Department of Finance to hold a Budget in September to facilitate an early election, he said: “We are planning on the basis of a Budget being introduced in the normal time frame in the month of October.”

He said the focus now is on the Summer Economic Statement due in July.

Mr McGrath added: “I know from experience that the ability to bring a Budget forward is limited” because of course we have not just the work on the Finance Bill and all of the taxation measures but the estimates process involving my colleague Minister [for Public Expenditure Paschal] Donohoe and all of his colleagues across Government”.

He said these negotiations on Departments’ budgets are “quite a painstaking process.”

Mr McGrath added: “So were you even minded to the ability to bring forward a [Budget] by any meaningful period of time is actually quite limited because of the amount of work that goes into the preparation of a national budget for 2025.”

He said: “We are planning on the basis of the normal time frame and in the coming weeks myself and Minister Donohoe will bring a memorandum to Government for decision confirmingt he Budget date for the autumn.”

Asked if he could rule out a September budget, Mr McGrath said: “We’ll be bringing a memorandum to Government in the coming weeks to formalise the date of the Budget but we are planning on the basis of a Budget in October as normal.” Put to him that this was not ruling it out he said: “The plan is to have the Budget in October as normal.”

He also said the Budget is “normally on the second Tuesday of October” and “no decision has been made or considered even to change the date from that normal time frame and as Minister for Finance I can be very open. We are planning on the basis of the normal Budgetary calendar.”

We are expecting the second count from Ireland South very shortly but as Sean Kelly only has 8,000 votes of a surplus to redistribute and Billy Kelleher is over 23,000 votes shy of the quota it will not move the dial that much and it will take a number of eliminations of the lowest place candidates for Kelleher to get over the line.

According to Barry Roche who is in Nemo Rangers GAA Club for us, many of the candidates are close together so Returning Officer Martin Harvey can’t do a few group eliminations as their rankings could change after each individual elimination.

That means it could take ten eliminations for Kelleher to get over the line and the ETA for that is around 10pm or 11pm.

Was it a mistake to run three FF candidates in MNW?

NEWS SNAP: A further two seats have just been filled in Carlow meaning there are just 10 local authority seats left to be decided.

‘It’s so important that you don’t have an early election’

The Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has said it is “absolutely not” a mistake for Taoiseach Simon Harris to continue to maintain that the current Coalition will serve its full term into next year, reports Cormac McQuinn from Government Buildings.

There is support with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for a post-Budget election in October in the wake of the better-than-expected Local Election results for the two main Coalition parties and the poor performance by Sinn Féin.

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon Mr Burke, a Fine Gael minister, rejected a suggestion it would be a mistake for Mr Harris not to call an early election given these circumstances.

He said: “Our job is to provide stable Government. Governments are elected to do a five-year mandate and that’s what we’re endeavouring to do.”

Earlier he said: “I think it’s so important that you don’t have an early election, that you provide stable Government, that you provide a very strong Budget.

He also said small and medium-sized enterprises are “relying on a very strong budget” adding that it is “very important to give certainty and to ensure that our public services can continue for the following 12 months.

Incidentally, we started the day saying that there were still 12 council seats to be filled and six hours later there are still 12 council seats to be filled.

The Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney who has just been eliminated in the Dublin constituency following the 15th count finished up just 440 votes shy of being able to reclaim thousands of euro back in campaign expenses.

Under EU regulations, alongside those elected, candidates who exceed a quarter (18,836) of the quota (75,345) are entitled to apply for a reimbursement of election expenses.

However, Gibney finished with 18,396 votes.

She crowdfunded over €15,000 for her campaign.

And we have an update from Mayo from Paul O’Malley

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both lost seats on Mayo County Council but with ten seats each, are expected to enter talks to hold voting control over Mayo County Council for the next five years.

Aontú and Independent Ireland secured their first seats in Mayo. Non-party candidates won seven seats and while Sinn Féin had been expected to have a strong showing they came away with just one councillor elected, the incumbent Gerry Murray.

The story of the weekend in Mayo was in Murray’s local electoral area of Swinford, where his Sinn Féin colleague John Sheahan lost out by a single vote to Fine Gael’s Neil Cruise.

Two recounts took place on Monday, both producing the same margin between the two, Sheahan with 1,636 and Cruise with 1,637. Adding to the drama, Fianna Fáil duo John Caulfield and Adrian Forkan were both elected with 1,643 and 1,668 votes respectively.

Coming down to the wire in Dublin

Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney has been eliminated following count 15, finishing on 18,396 votes, reports Jack White.

Niall Boylan received a considerable 3,223 transfers from Aontú's Aisling Considine but remains in fourth place (43,235).

Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty and Lynn Boylan remain in the top three.

Dog days down in Limerick

Front-runner in the directly elected mayoral election in Limerick John Moran has brought along his dog Annraoi to the Limerick Count Centre, reports David Raleigh.

Mr Moran cheekily asked the Irish Setter: “What time will we be finished” as counting continued into the second day, with Mr Moran clearly out in front of the rest of the field, at the Limerick Racecourse venue.

Mr Moran remained tight-lipped on his performance so far, and would not even say how he was feeling this morning: “I’m not commenting.”

When pressed, the former secretary general at the Department of Finance who was holding the dog on a short leash offered: “I feel like we need a walk.”

When asked if he was up early this morning, he joked: “We were, we always get up early.”

Annraoi interrupted the chat with a few barks to indicate Count 9 was moments away.

Returning officer Caroline Curley announced that Mr Moran was leading the field on 20,982 votes, 5,593 votes more than his nearest challenger Helen O’Donnell IND who has received 15,389 votes, and in 3rd position, Dee Ryan FF, on 13,965 votes.

On what has been a disappointing election weekend for Sinn Féin, the party’s only Limerick TD, Maurice Quinlivan, was excluded from the mayoral race after Count 9 having securing 11,571 votes, which left him almost 10,000 votes behind Moran.

This is an interesting take on the European Parliament elections from Bobby McDonagh, a former ambassador of Ireland to London, Rome and Brussels.

Niall Boylan, who remains very much in the hunt for a seat in Dublin, was unhappy with the line of questioning on Prime Time last night.

And that’s that from Peter Casey

The two Boylans swap places in race for Dublin seat

As expected, Sinn Féin senator Lynn Boylan received the most transfers from Daithí Doolan (7,498) bringing her back into third place in Dublin with 44,985 votes, writes Jack White.

Niall Boylan has dropped to fourth place after the 14th count, with 40,012 votes after receiving 397 transfers from Sinn Féin’s Daithí Doolan.

Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews remains in the lead with 64,102 votes, just ahead of Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty who now has 62,738 votes.

Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe is currently placed fifth in the four-seat constituency (33,900 votes) while Labour Party candidate Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is placed sixth (32,557 votes).

He is ahead of MEP Clare Daly who has 30,167 votes.

Aontú's candidate Aisling Considine has been eliminated following the 14th count finishing on 14,117 votes.

Some class count centre shoulder lifting via Jessica Thompson from last night.

NEWS SNAP: James Reynolds, the disputed leader of the far-right National Party, has been eliminated from the Midlands-North-West race on the fourth count, reports Fiachra Gallagher

Mr Reynolds told Shannonside FM yesterday that he would never run for the party again, as it was a “toxic” brand. He later appeared to back-pedal on his position in a post on X, claiming his words were misconstrued.

The slow bicycle race towards the European Parliament restarts this morning, when counting resumes in the three constituencies. There’s not a chance the process will be concluded today but by tonight we should have a better idea on at least some of those who will go to Brussels for the next five years as Ireland’s representatives. In Limerick, however, the pace should pick up in the contest to become Ireland’s first directly elected mayor. So what should we look out for in the coming hours? Pat Leahy has the answers ... or at least some of them.

Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has been eliminated from the race to be Limerick’s first directly elected mayor, after securing just 11,571 votes, reports David Raleigh.

Mr Quinlivan said he was disappointed with his performance, but he stressed he would fully support whoever wins the election but if they do not perform well in the job he will be asking why.

He finished the race 9,411 votes behind the front-running candidate, John Moran IND, who currently lies on 20,982 votes, having secured over 18,000 preferences.

Helen O’Donnell IND is chasing in 2nd place on 15,571, followed by Dee Ryan FF in 3rd on 13,965 votes.

‘I was aware of some of the candidates from the abuse they had hurled at me on social media’

Two European election candidates have spoken of the abuse they experienced online and in person during the campaign, writes Vivienne Clarke, with one person getting abused on the double.

Labour candidate Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that he received Eamon Ryan’s abuse too, as people often confused them.

There had been “a lot of aggression, a lot of anger” and it had been “pretty ugly” at the beginning of the campaign.

“Often if you had the time to talk to the person, there’d be something else going on, that it wasn’t really about immigration, I might have some problem, there might be an illness in the home. There may be a frustration that was really the cause of the anger.

“But if you’re a sort of a populist politician who is trying to tell people if you’re angry, it’s because of the immigrants, that is leading to anger being manifest across society. And then, you know, they see somebody like me. And then it’s sort of a licence to shout abuse. But I think we can disagree with each other. We can disagree strongly with each other. But I think we have to get a bit of respect back into politics and the public lives. And certainly it’s not just politicians, it’s guards, it’s teachers and any public servants.”

Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan said she did not experience abuse on the street but did on social media.

“To be honest, it is frightening because even last night, while I was down at the count centre, I was aware of some of the candidates from the abuse they had hurled at me on social media and I found myself standing away from them. And that’s not my nature, because I’d be a people person, and I like engaging with people. But I just stood back because I just felt a little bit nervous.”

I’m sorry, what is happening here? And why am I only seeing it now???

And speaking of Jennifer Bray ...

There is likely to be some downtime over the course of the day as we wait for the hardest working counters in politics to sift through tens of thousands of ballot papers over and over and over again – it certainly won’t be as busy as it was over the last three days with just over 25 seats to be decided across three elections.

As we wait for updates, it is worth reflecting on what happened over the course of the election. Jennifer Bray has a really good piece that tells the story of the days just past through the prism of three election areas.

Long day ahead in Limerick

Counting has resumed in Limerick in the inaugural directly elected mayor election, reports David Raleigh.

However, it is likely we will be here again late into the night. John Moran IND remains out in front on 19,719 votes, with Helen O’Donnell IND (14,288), Dee Ryan FF (12,288), Daniel Butler FG (11,337), and Maurice Quinlivan SF (9,528), bringing up the rear of the chasing pack.

Counting staff are currently sorting through 9,488 votes of Frankie Daly IND & Elisa O’Donovan SD who were both eliminated after Count 8 overnight

NEWS SNAP: There will be a full recount in Navan area from 10am. Two seats had been filled before FF’s Kashif Ali called for a recount when he was eliminated with seven votes separating him and SF’s Caoimhe Ní Shluáin.

What’s going down in Dublin Town?

Dublin might be the only European constituency to finish the count today and one way or another it is likely to be a nail-biter with one Green, One Labour and two Boylans fighting it out for the last two seats.

Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty look like shoo-ins at this stage – with the former set to be first past the post.

But this is where it gets interesting. Independent Niall Boylan jumped into third place late last night and currently has more than 39,000 votes after he got a large chunk of anti-immigration candidate Malachy Steenson’s votes once he was eliminated.

Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan has over 37,000, but her running mate Daithí Doolan will be next to be eliminated and he has just under 12,000 votes.

Assuming a large number of them go to Lynn Boylan, that will take her back into third place, and then it becomes a real dogfight for the last seat between Niall Boylan, the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe and Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.

This is where the 17,000 plus votes of Social Democrat candidate Sinead Gibney are likely to be key with Clare Daly and Bríd Smith also still in the running, albeit some way off the pace.

All done and dusted in Donegal

The rise of the newly formed 100% Redress Party will undoubtedly be the talking point of the 2024 local elections in Co Donegal, writes Stephen Maguire.

Formed as a result of the defective blocks scandal that saw thousands of homes literally crumble across the county, the party put up a total of six candidates for election.

But to win four seats after stunning performances by the likes of Joy Beard, Ali Farren, Tomas Sean Devine and Denis McGee is perhaps more than even they expected.

Talk of taking a seat in the Dáil when a general election is called next year is already being mooted.

“That must be our aim because the people have spoken locally and we know the support is there,” said Ali Farren in one of dozens of interviews he conducted since topping the poll in the Carndonagh LEA.

There have been a number of impressive individual performances across the constituency, with community worker Declan Meehan trebling his vote from his first outing five years ago to top the poll in the Milford Electoral Area.

Meehan has a track record on community issues and is Donegal’s first openly gay councillor.

It looked for a long time that the gender balance in the county would diminish even further from the worryingly low base of just four women councillors on the 37 strong-seat council.

It did dwindle somewhat but impressive outings for Joy Beard, Sinn Féin’s Dakota Nic Mheanman and sitting councillor Niamh Kennedy means women still have a voice, albeit a quieter one, on Donegal County Council.

It was not Fine Gael’s finest hour with the party losing its seat in the Inishowen Peninsula after Johnny McGuinness lost out on the last seat in the Carndonagh Electoral Area to Labour’s Martin Farren who claimed the solitary seat for his party in the entire constituency of Donegal.

There were emotional scenes when Fianna Fáil’s Donal ‘Mandy’ Kelly topped the poll in the Letterkenny Electoral Area.

The seat was left to Kelly’s father, also Donal, after the sudden death of another son Manus Kelly who was tragically killed while competing in the Donegal International Rally in June 2019. He won the last seat in Letterkenny LEA back in 2019 and passed it to his father who, in turn, passed it to another son Donal Mandy.

Having worked tirelessly in the role for the last three years, Donal Mandy received a huge endorsement from the electorate with an impressive 1,841 first preference votes.

One shock omission from the new-look council will be that of outgoing Milford LEA councillor John O’Donnell who was talked of as a poll-topper but who was ousted partly due to the rise of Declan Meehan.

After all the dust has settled on a marathon vote, the set-up of the new Donegal County Council means that there are 10 Fianna Fáil seats, 10 Sinn Féin seats, 9 Independents, 4 100% Redress, 3 Fine Gael and one Labour.

And we have news of a recount recount (so good they did it twice) from Suzanne Pender in Carlow.

The second recount started this morning. Currently there are three candidates with just two votes between them for final two seats.

Brian O’Donoghue (FG) 894

Jim Deane (SF) 893

Catherine Callaghan (FG) 892

Difficult to say when it will conclude, but the first recount ran until 4.30pm yesterday. 8,000 votes approx to be rechecked.

We have more from Marie O’Halloran in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

The final seat will be decided today between People Before Profit and Sinn Féin with a full recheck in Killiney-Shankill.

Returning officer Stephen Brady will conduct a recheck because of the six vote margin in favour of PBP candidate and former councillor Dave O’Keeffe over first-time Sinn Féin candidate Roland Kennedy.

An earlier one vote margin had initially favoured Sinn Féin then flipped to PBP whose candidate was declared elected.

Last night Independent Cormac Lucey conceded to Fine Gael’s Dan Carson after a full recheck in Blackrock. Mr Lucey, an economic commentator, said: “I lost out by one tenth of a vote, as close a margin as it could have been.”

The results mean Fine Gael remains the largest party on the council with 16 seats, an increase of three.

Late last night Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council lost its outlier status for gender parity, writes Marie O’Halloran. The 40-seat local authority, which previously had 20 male and 20 women councillors, now comprises 27 men and just 13 women.

It is however an outlier as one of the few councils where the Green Party has retained all its seats. Cllr Lauren Tuite, a project manager for rehabilitating derelict buildings, was elected without reaching the quota on day three of the disputed count in Killiney-Shankill. Her election means the party has returned six councillors, one in each ward, on a reduced count.

In the Limerick mayoral election John Moran, the former Department of Finance secretary general who ran as an Independent, is well ahead after topping the poll with 18,308 votes, some 5,000 more than his nearest challenger, Helen O’Donnell, another independent candidate.

However, with the quota set at 39,873 and 15 contenders in the race, Mr Moran is a long way from being elected and the count is a long way from concluding. Fianna Fáil’s Dee Ryan (11,785) and Fine Gael’s Daniel Butler (10,190) were third and fourth respectively after the first count.

Counting will resume later this morning.

While much of the attention today will focus on what is happening at a European level, there are still some very anxious people waiting to find out if the have made it on to councils across the country.

Outside of some recounts that will happen, here is a quick rundown of the seats still outstanding as it stands.

• Carlow – 2 seats to fill
• Kildare – 3 seats to fill
• Meath – 5 seats to fill
• Offaly – 2 seats to fill

So, here we are again. Good morning from The Irish Times. I’m Conor Pope and I will be covering the unfolding story for a decent chunk of the day. It is unlikely to be a frenetic as it has been since Saturday morning (he said hopefully) because as it stands there are just 12 of the 949 council seats still to be filled, a single mayoral contest in Limerick to be decided and 13 of the 14 seats in the European Parliament to be confirmed. Sure it will be over by lunchtime.

No, no it won’t.