There are now about a quarter of the 174 seats filled in the general election count after results began to trickle in across the country from Saturday evening. Counting resumes this morning.
Seat projections suggest Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil could have a combined seat total in the mid-80s in the new Dáil. They are are likely to seek a coalition deal with both Labour and the Social Democrats in the coming weeks, according to senior figures in the government parties. A majority in the new Dáil will require 88 seats.
- The Green Party, which held 12 seats in the last Government, have suffered a heavy blow with several senior members losing seats
- Simon Harris topped the poll in Wicklow, but Fianna Fáil Health Minister Stephen Donnelly faces a battle to retain his seat
- Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald filled the first seat in Dublin Central on the third count while Gerry Hutch appears to be well in contention for a Dáil seat
Stay with us throughout the day for all the latest from the count centres along with reaction, analysis and opinion from our reporters and writers.
Key Pieces
- Results hub: See the live results for all 43 constituencies as they happen
- Yesterday’s count as it happened: The winners and losers on first day of counting
- You can keep up to date with the main storylines from the day in our key race alerts analysis with Jack Horgan-Jones
Fianna Fail’sLisa Chambers has 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.
Chus 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 in 6,091 with 131 transfers from the Green candidate. Social Democrats candidate Eoin Hayes 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 Fein’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, five thousand 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 - twenty 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 Fail, 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 underway 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 benefitted significantly from Mr Chambers’ 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 Fail’s Lynda Predegast on the fourth count, writes Kitty Holland.
The distribution of her 879 votes is now underway and should favour her party colleague Shane Moynihan, currently on 4,822.
The quota in this five seater is 7,913. Sinn Fein’s Eoin O 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 O 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 seventh 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 frontrunner, Frank Feighan of Fine Gael, is still 2,377 votes short of the 11,381 quota.
It’s all go in Fingal says Martin Wall.
After the sixth count in Fingal East, which saw the elimination of his running mate, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien of Fianna Fáil is about 60 votes shy of the quota. In neighbouring Fingal West a recount is likely following the elimination late last night of Lorraine Clifford Lee of Fianna Fáil. She was fewer than 40 votes behind independent Tony Murphy.
We have a first count in the five-seater Kildare North constituency.
James Lawless topped the poll with 8,734 votes, short of the 9,505 quota, reports Fiachra Gallagher.
Social Democrats’ Aidan Farrelly polled strongly with 7,611 votes. Mr Farrelly, a county councillor, is aiming to retain the Social Democrats’ seat in Kildare North following the retirement of former co-leader Catherine Murphy.
Sinn Féin Réada Cronin got the third-most first preference votes on 6,806. Fianna Fáil may be in with a shout of a second seat in Kildare North, with Maynooth-based county councillor Naoise Ó Cearúil polling on 5,672 first preferences.
Counting has resumed in Wicklow where Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is battling to hold on to his seat.
It is, says Carl O’Brien, a tight race between Donnelly (3,553 votes), Independent candidate and former Fine Gael Cllr Shay Cullen (3,232) and Fine Gael’s Cllr Edward Timmins (3,050).
Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady and Delgany-based Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore both look set to retain their seats.
A 5,000-plus surplus for Taoiseach Simon Harris - who was elected on the first count at 9.30pm on Saturday - is being counted this morning.
These transfers will play a key role in deciding where the final seat goes.
If party loyalty holds firm, Harris’s running mate Edward Timmins looks set to benefit most. Sample tallies indicate that as many as 40 per cent of his transfers will go to the west Wicklow based councillor.
Harris said on Saturday night he was “cautiously optimistic” that Timmins will get over the line.
However, tallies indicate that a smaller but significant proportion of Harris’s transfers - about 10 per cent - will go to Donnelly, who is also based in the Taoiseach’s hometown of Greystones.
Newtownmountkennedy-based Cllr Shay Cullen - formerly of Fine Gael - is expected to attract transfers from a range of candidates.
Party and regional loyalties will all have a role to play in determining where the final seat goes.
Most seasoned election observers, however, see Timmins as favourite to take a second seat for Fine Gael at the expense of Donnelly.
Counting is resuming in Dublin South Centralwhere no candidate has yet reached the quota, reports Sarah Burns.
Following the fifth count last night, Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh was top of the poll with 4,521 votes, followed by Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh on 4,027 votes and Sinn Féin’s Máire Devine with 3,872 votes.
People Before Profit’s Hazel de Nortúin is closely behind her with 3,422 votes, followed by the Social Democrats Jen Cummins with 3,383 votes, Sinn Féin’s Daithí Doolan with 3,328 votes and Fine Gael’s Mary Seery Kearney with 3,081 votes.
The four-seat constituency returned no Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil TD in 2020 and has been dubbed the ‘People’s Republic of Dublin South Central’. Is Ardagh, the daughter of the late Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh, about to change that?
The fight for the last seat in Dublin Central is indisputably the highest-stakes and highest-profile race going, writes Jack Horgan-Jones.
Gangland figure Gerry Hutch, who has been named by the Garda as the head of an organised crime group, is in the seats contention with an 813-vote lead on Marie Sherlock.
His first-preference vote was way bigger than anyone expected, at more than 3,000 votes, keeping him ahead of a pack that would otherwise have expected to have reeled him in. Things were looking even rosier for him last night until the distribution of PBP’s Eoghan O’Ceannabhain’s votes.
These heavily favoured Social Democrat’s Gary Gannon, promoting him to second in the running order and putting him within a couple of hundred votes of taking a seat.
This matters because the only realistic challenger to Hutch is Labour Senator Marie Sherlock, who needs all the left and centre candidate votes to gravitate towards her to challenge Hutch – most crucially, the Green’s Neasa Hourigan, who will be eliminated next.
A series of unlikely things now need to happen for Sherlock to prevail: firstly, Gannon needs to be elected as soon as possible, or else he will soak up some of the Green transfers.
Malachy Steenson, the far right candidate, has been eliminated and the next thing to happen is his votes are distributed. He is a polar opposite to Gannon, but there might be enough inner city votes to transfer to Gannon, who is geographically close to Steenson.
If Gannon is elected, then the path is clear for Hourigan to transfer heavily to Sherlock. If he’s not (and Steenson will definitely transfer heavily to Hutch) then the hill gets a bit steeper.
If Gannon has to wait for Hourigan’s vote to be elected, some, but not all of it will make its way to Sherlock. After Hourigan is eliminated and the vote distributed, we will know exactly the gap that must be closed – but Sherlock has to start closing it, and fast, as the odds of her being elected by Mary Fitzpatrick are not great.
The Fianna Fáil Senator is more likely to elect Paschal Donohoe to the third seat, and votes – especially at the scale needed – will be scarce for Sherlock.
It is a very narrow path, but as we write on Sunday morning, it is a path nonetheless.
All eyes will be on Dublin Central today, where Gerard “The Monk” Hutch is in contention to become a TD, writes Sarah Burns.
The sixth count was completed at around 11pm last night, which had Social Democrats Gary Gannon on 6,363 votes, just shy of meeting the quota.
He was followed by Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe on 5,730 votes, Hutch on 3,733 votes, Labour’s Marie Sherlock on 2,917 votes and Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick on 2,553 votes. Independent Malachy Steenson was eliminated and his 2,195 votes will be distributed when counting resumes this morning at 10am.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll in the four-seat constituency and was elected on the third count yesterday evening.
Counting has restarted in Mayo. Nobody elected so far. Distribution under way of Stephen Kerr’s votes. Rose Conway is approximately 400 short of the quota. She is likely to be elected on the sixth or seventh count followed home later by Alan Dillon and Dara Calleary. A ding-dong battle will ensue for the fourth and fifth seats.
Counting back under way in Galway West – after counters were given a lecture about not to engage in social media while they are involved in the counting process.
Mattie McGrath is expected to be the next TD to be elected in Tipperary.
The Independent topped the poll in Tipperary South but was just shy of the votes he needed to reach the quota.
He said yesterday when he attended the Thurles count centre that he and the rest of the Rural Independents Group of TDs he is in will “talk to anybody who wants to talk to us” about the next Programme for Government.
“I’m delighted that all that hard work by my team, my office and myself has paid off,” he said.
“There is no replacement for hard work.
“Hopefully all of my colleagues in the Rural Independents group will get back in and we look forward to talks for the Programme for Government.”
Michael Lowry was the first TD to be elected, topping the poll last night in Tipperary North.
Very early this morning Social Democrats party leader Holly Cairns was elected in the three-seat Cork South-West constituency on the 19th count, reports David Forsythe.
Ms Cairns whose total vote of 11,962 exceeded the quota of 11,824 was not present at the count centre in Mallow as she gave birth to her daughter on election day.
A Social Democrats spokesperson said: “The party is delighted to be able to show our support for our leader Holly Cairns, while Holly is unable to be here herself her campaign team are cheering her on in the early hours of the morning. We are delighted with the performance put in by Social Democrats candidates right across the country.”
Fewer than a quarter of the seats were filled on the first day of counting but our Political Editor Pat Leahy identified some of the key things we have learned so far.
- Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are on their way back to government
- It’s the end of the Greens. For now, anyway.
- It’s a glass half-empty/glass half-full election for Sinn Féin
- Voters may be about to elect one of Ireland’s notorious criminals to the Dáil
- There is a massive generational divide in Irish politics.
You’ll find all the details on the five Saturday night takeaways here.
The second day of counting will see a more complete picture of what the next Dáil will look like emerge, with – hopefully – most of the seats filled by the late evening.
It already seems certain that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will form part of a future government with a combined seat total of in excess of 80.
Senior sources are suggesting that they will most likely seek a coalition deal with both Labour and the Social Democrats in the coming weeks.
But there are a lot of votes still to count before then. And there was a lot of counting happening overnight too.
