Election 2024 - Day four and five counts as they happened
12, Counting Ireland, European Date: Continues Nemo Elections Picture Club Rangers In The Gaa In Cork, June Wednesday 2024 At
Tuesday and Wednesday saw thousands of votes counted and all 949 seats in the local election finally filled.
You can recap the events of the weekend below. For live coverage on the Ireland South and Midlands North West European elections, follow our live blog.
Ireland First candidate Derek Blighe has been eliminated after count 16 in the Ireland South constituency.
He picked up 883 votes following the distribution of Susan Doyle’s surplus, to finish with 38,625 votes just before 11pm on Wednesday.
He said: “This is only the beginning. We’re going to build on this.”
Outgoing MEP Grace O’Sullivan was the biggest beneficiary during count 16 picking up 7,675 votes from Doyle’s distribution to finish with 63,335, some 2,026 votes behind Cynthia Ní Mhurchú.
The count has now been adjourned until 9am on Thursday when counting will resume with the distribution of Blighe’s votes with John Mullins, who is now on 42,831, likely to be the next candidate to be eliminated.
"Thanks Peter," says Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as he receives over 5,500 transfers from eliminated candidate Peter Casey in the 15th count in Midlands North West.
Mr Flanagan was by far the biggest beneficiary of Mr Casey's transfers, with the latest count bringing the frontrunner to 95,314 votes.
The four candidates following him - Nina Carberry, Maria Walsh, Barry Cowen and Ciaran Mullooly - have not swapped spots.
With the count complete, Independent candidate Saoirse McHugh has been eliminated.
Whether or not Sinn Féin's Chris MacManus is eliminated next count is entirely down to transfers as he and Fianna Fáil's Niall Blaney are neck-and-neck. However, it is expected to be into the early hours before the 16th count is complete.
Meanwhile, as the Midlands North West count continues here this evening, the leading candidate Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is hinting at a run for the Áras.
The Independent MEP said that he “definitely wouldn’t rule out” a run for the presidency when the race kicks of in earnest next October.
He told Newstalk that while he still has plenty of work to do as an MEP, he said that “we’ll see what happens” when asked about a bid.
A dinner fit for a president😉 pic.twitter.com/fcSjECRvcK
— Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (@lukeming) June 12, 2024
Social Democrats candidate Susan Doyle has been eliminated on the 15th count in the Ireland South constituency.
Ms Doyle was eliminated with 29,617 votes and count staff are now distributing her votes.
The count is expected to continue until close to midnight.
With Billy Kelleher expected to be elected on Thursday without reaching the quota, outgoing Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan is on 55,660 votes tonight, about 14,000 votes ahead of Fine Gael’s John Mullins, and 17,918 ahead of Ireland First candidate Derek Blighe, but too far behind to catch Michael McNamara, Kathleen Funchion, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Mick Wallace, who are all fighting for the last three seats.
Ms O’Sullivan said she can see her chances of retaining her seat slipping away.
“I’m here with the swansong – you can see it’s definitely slipping away now,” she said at the Nemo count centre on Wednesday night.
“But I’ve been realistic all the time from the get-go when the preference votes were being put on the tables and I acknowledged that it was substantially down on my 2019 vote.
“I mean being a sitting MEP, there are different reasons for that and we saw a number of others including Mick Wallace who was down on his 2019 vote so I just wasn’t sure how I would manage the transfers and interestingly enough, I haven’t been that transfer friendly.
"In 2019, and that’s my only comparative, I was extraordinarily transfer friendly whereas this time I haven’t.
“2019 was the climate campaign and the tide very much came in and the Green Wave was there and now it just feels that momentum has gone.
“People have other things on their minds and that concerns me because as an ecological party and as an ecologist myself, climate change has not gone away by any doubt – my concern is that government is not getting that message across.”
All 249 seats in the local elections have now been filled with Fianna Fáil securing the most at 248, followed closely by Fine Gael with 245.
Counting concluded at the Newbridge LEA in Co Kildare on Wednesday evening, as Fianna Fáil's Noel Heavey and Rob Power, as well as Independent Tom McDonnell, became the last three candidates to be elected in the country.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin finished with 102 seats.
Independents will account for 186 seats, the Labour Party secured 56, and 35 for the Social Democrats.
Independent Ireland secured 24 seats, 23 for the Green Party, 13 for People Before Profit, and eight for Aontú.
Others will account for another 9 seats.
Progress is slow in the Midlands North West, but there has been a count completed in the last few minutes.
While the top five - Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, Nina Carberry, Maria Walsh, Barry Cowen and Ciaran Mullooly - remain in the same position, there has been some movement in sixth place as Aontú's Peadar Tóibín has overtaken Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew.
It's unclear how long Mr Tóibín will remain ahead of Ms Gildernew, with the distribution of Independent Peter Casey's votes likely to benefit him.
Rumours in the TF Royal Hotel have also begun to ebb around, with some staff saying that the count could continue as late as Saturday.
Sinn Féin European election candidate Kathleen Funchion has leapt into contention in Ireland South after picking up 15,000-plus transfers following the elimination of her running mate Paul Gavan.
The Carlow Kilkenny TD was the biggest beneficiary following the distribution of Gavan’s 25,521 papers, picking up a total of 15,750 votes to jump to 71,350, putting her 3,843 votes ahead of independent TD Michael McNamara.
Mick Wallace was the next largest beneficiary, picking up 1,121 transfers to reach 61,668 , while outgoing Fianna Fail MEP Billy Kelleher picked up 1,054 to reach 100,832 votes.
Mr Kelleher is still about 14,000 votes short of the quota, and it is expected that he could take the second seat on Thursday without reaching the quota.
Just 10,000 votes separate Ms Funchion, Mr McNamara, Fianna Fail candidate Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Independent Mick Wallace who are all in contention for the remaining three seats.
Counting staff are now distributing Independent Ireland's Eddie Punch's 26,167 papers following his elimination after the 14th count.
Another twist in Midlands North West, as Michelle Gildernew says that Sinn Féin is in with a “fighting chance” of a seat, despite yesterday being “resigned to the fact” that they would not make it.
“The transfers are going all over the place. Yes, we’re still in with a fighting chance but it’s hard to predict how it’s going to end up. We just have to be patient, watch as the eliminations take place and hope for the best,” Ms Gildernew.
However, just over 24 hours ago, Ms Gildernew said that she was “not overly optimistic” about taking the final seat and that the party had not gotten the result they wanted.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted. We’re still in the mix, but I’m probably not overly optimistic that I can overtake Ciaran Mullooly at this stage.
“I think he’s probably going to scrape in with the last seat, so that’s just the nature of elections.
“I think we’ve probably resigned to the fact at this stage that we won’t win the last seat," Ms Gildernew said.
On her latest comments, Ms Gildernew was asked if she was changing her mind on her chances. In response, she said: “Anything can happen in this election lads.”
More grindingly slow progress at the Ireland South European Election with the 13th count not throwing up any sensational results. However, Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher is now slightly more than 200 votes shy of the 100,000-mark.
That was thanks to distribution of some of Labour’s Niamh Hourigan’s 24,211 votes.
Independent Micheal McNamara has moved onto 66,656 votes and is increasingly putting distance between himself and those behind him.
Next in the pecking order is Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú on 61,259 while Independent4Change’s Mick Wallace has moved up to 60,547.
Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion is currently on 55,600. Her running mate Paul Gavan was, however, eliminated.
The Green’s Grace O’Sullivan is only narrowly behind Funchion with 54,621.
Fine Gael’s John Mullins is well off the pace with a current total of 39,525.
There are three other candidates left in the field who have anything between 4,000 and 15,000 less votes than Mullin.
Galvin’s 25,521 votes are now being counted for distribution with count 14 results expected at around 6pm.
Mick Wallace and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú are currently present at the count centre at the Nemo Rangers GAA Club in Cork.
Billy Kelleher has also popped in. He says he expects he won’t be elected until tomorrow. It is hoped that the count will finish then and not drag on into Friday.
Another count has just been completed in Midlands North West, with Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan extending his lead to almost 10,000 votes to his nearest rival.
The chase is also on for who might take the second seat, with Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh (78,048) catching up to her party colleague Nina Carberry (78,474). Both Barry Cowen (76,326) and Ciaran Mullooly (62,598) remain in fourth and fifth place respectively.
As we head into the 14th count in the TF Royal in Castlebar, Hermann Kelly of the Irish Freedom Party has been eliminated, with his 21,029 votes now due to be distributed.
We've more news from Ireland South too as Labour's Niamh Hourigan is out of the running.
Her 24,211 votes will now be divided.
The distribution of Patrick Murphy's votes in Ireland South have seen a bounce for Independent Michael McNamara and Independent4Change Mick Wallace.
Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher still comfortably in front of the chasing pack on 96,786. Mr McNamara is now firmly in second place behind him having received an additional 2,170 votes from Mr Murphy’s elimination bringing him up to 64,761.
Mr Wallace has moved into third spot on 59,511 with Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú just behind him at 59,194.
A bit of a gap has opened between those two and Sinn Fáin’s Kathleen Funchion, who now stands at 54,207, and the Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan at 51,290.
Fine Gael’s John Mullins only picked up an extra 738 votes from Murphy’s elimination and is currently on a total of 37,950.
There are four seats left in Ireland South as Fine Gael's Sean Kelly has already been elected.
Rory Hearne (Social Democrats) has been eliminated on the 12th count in Midlands-North-West, having garnered 19,279 votes.
Hermann Kelly (Irish Freedom Party) received the most amount of transfers (3,572) from John Watters, to bring him to a total of 20,885.
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan still leads the poll on 84,665 votes. Ciaran Mullooly (Independent Ireland), with 61,888 votes, is still in fifth place in the five-seat race, ahead of Michelle Gildernew (Sinn Féin) on 48,074.
The Green Party’s director of elections Ossian Smyth has said that people still want what the Green Party is offering.
He told News at One: "I think that people still want what we're offering. They still want renewable energy, they want cheap public transport. They want to protect nature. They know it's got a value.
"So what we have is not going away. The policies that we are championing are the same ones that we have been champions of since the 80s.
"And I think that we will certainly return.”
Political reporter Tadgh McNally has been in Castlebar for us since the first boxes were opened and here he is explaining the latest situation in the Midlands North West race and with an update on the Ireland South counts.
Count 11 from Ireland South is in.
The 11th count saw the redistribution of Micheal Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party’s 15,183 votes.
The big beneficiary was Independent Micheal McNamara who now has a total of 62,591, putting him in pole position of the pack of chasers behind Fianna Fail’s Billy Kelleher who is currently on 95,405 votes.
However, It is unlikely that Kelleher will be elected until Thursday.
Kelleher's running mate Cynthia Ní Mhurchú is on 58,278 while Mick Wallace (Independetent4Change) picked up an additional 1,010 votes bringing him to 57,989.
Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion has moved to 53,655 and Green Party's Grace O’Sullivan is now on 50,576.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s John Mullins stands on just over 37,000.
However, both he and Kelleher are expected to pick up a lot of Patrick Murphy’s transfers because they are also from Cork and Mick Wallace could do equally well out of them.
If this happens it's being predicted that Grace O'Sullivan will lose her European seat.
The first count of the day in Midlands-North-West and the 11th overall has seen John Watters (Independent) excluded.
Maria Walsh has now overtaken Barry Cowen in third.
As it stands
- Luke Ming Flanagan (IND): 82,856 (+1,193)
- Carberry (FG): 76,946 (+1,274)
- Walsh (FG): 75,834 (+2,738)
- Cowen (FF): 75,328 (+498)
- Mullooly (II): 60,409 (+478)
- Gildernew (SF): 47,833 (+488)
The tenth count is in in Ireland South and Susan Doyle of the Social Democrats is the big winner from Lorna Bogue's transfers, taking more than 2,500 of them.
No major changes at the top, though Billy Kelleher has now passed the 95,000 vote mark.
However, he is still well off the quota of 114,761 which so far has only been reached by Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly.
Independent Micheal McNamara is behind Kelleher on 60,285 followed by former broadcaster and Fianna Fail hopeful Cynthia Ní Mhurchú who is just shy of 58,000 votes.
Independent4Change’s Mick Wallace is on 56,979 and Kathleen Funchion of Sinn Féin is on 53,300.
Just behind them is Grace O’Sullivan (Glas) on just over 50,400 and John Mullins (Fine Gael) on 36,984.
The rest of the pack are well behind.
Michael Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party has been eliminated.
We are expecting the first count announcement of the day in Ireland South shortly.
Lorna Bogue of Rabharta's votes have been distributed.
9.34am
We are now at the point of a fourth recount being requested in Kildare for the Newbridge LEA.
James Stokes of Sinn Féin was found to be one vote clear of Aontú's Melissa Byrne.
It was the fourth different result of the counts so far - a full recap is below.
And we're off!
Counting has re-commenced in both Midlands-North-West and Ireland South to elect the remaining MEPs.
A reminder of those already elected:
Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty, Lynn Boylan, Aodhán Ó Riordáin
: Seán Kelly
While we wait for the conclusion of the local elections and the two MEP races, it is worth noting that Limerick got its first directly elected mayor on Tuesday!
John Moran beat out all other challengers to make history in the Treaty county.
But who is the man once dubbed Ireland's 'Mr Austerity'?
The chief executive of the Electoral Commission Art O’Leary has said there needs to be a better understanding of why people did not vote in the elections.
The turnout for this year was slightly less than the figure for 2019, at almost 50 percent.
He explained to Morning Ireland: "This isn't something we can fix in a single six week campaign. There are many elections to come in the next 18 months. So we'll have an opportunity to learn as much as we can about voter behaviour, because we know nothing about voters in this country, and we know even less about would be, could be and should be voters too.
The level of spoiled votes dropped by 30 percent even with the increased number of voters.
Some votes had been spoiled intentionally, he added, including one where somebody had given a number one to everyone on the ballot and then wrote at the top “as promised”.
One thing that may have stuck out for you in the last few days is that a lot of familiar-sounding names have been elected onto the various councils.
Fresh from covering the Wexford count centre, our reporter Seán Murray took a deep dive into how the 2024 elections turned out to be a family affair for many.
As we've mentioned, there is just one LEA left to complete their seats: Newbridge in Kildare.
But there is high drama around it after three recounts.
The candidates in question, James Stokes of Sinn Féin and Aontú's Melissa Byrne, are now tied on votes.
On Monday, after the results of the first count, Ms Byrne was one vote ahead of Mr Stokes (1,101 to 1,000.) which led to the first recount and a reversal of the figures - Mr Stokes now ahead by two votes.
This, in turn, led to a second recount and that began on Tuesday morning - where it was discovered that five spoiled votes may have impacted the count.
Sure enough, the second recount saw the two candidates level but Mr Stokes eliminated by proxy of having fewer first preference votes.
However, he requested another recount at 7pm on Tuesday and was granted it, with the results overnight putting the Sinn Féin candidate back in the lead by one vote!
Which leads us to where we are now!
Good morning on this fifth day of counting!
Only one LEA is still counting - Newbridge in Kildare. It is expected their recount will conclude on Wednesday, thus giving us the last three of the 949 elected representatives.
Fianna Fáíl have retained their title of the most popular party.
Overnight, Pauline O'Reilly was eliminated in the MEP election in Midlands-North-West, leaving 15,283 votes to distribute in the count - where Luke Ming Flanagan still remains in pole position to claim a seat.
As things wind down for the night, let's take a look at the current situation.
Where we stand:
- Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty, Lynn Boylan and Aodhán Ó'Ríordáin have been elected as the new MEPs for the Dublin constituency following a marathon 19 counts John Moran has been confirmed as Limerick's first directly elected mayor.
- Luke 'Ming' Flanagan is still topping the poll in the Midlands North-West consituency, with 81,122 votes as of 10.30pm.
- Only three more seats are left to be filled in Ireland in the local elections.
- Ireland South is yet to see another elected candidate as the count has been adjourned for the night.
Thank you for following along with our coverage today!
The Ireland South count has adjourned for the night with Tuesday bringing 8 counts but no elections.
In the distribution of the votes of Mary Fitzgibbon, Michael McNamara picked up 855 votes, adding to his lead on Cynthia Ní Mhurchú in third place.
Distribution of Lorna Bogue's votes will begin at 9am on Wednesday.
The independent TD Michael McNamara extended his lead on Fianna Fáil's Cynthia Ní Mhurchú after the elimination of Kerry barrister Una McGuirk concluding the eight count for Ireland south.
Political Correspondent Paul Hosford says Mr McNamara took 1,088 votes to Ms Ní Mhurchú's 364 to move over 1,700 votes clear in third place. The Irish Freedom Party's Michael Leahy got the most transfers on 1,089 and Derek Blighe picked up 888.
The Returning Officer Martin Harvey has indicated his desire to get two more counts done tonight if possible and staff are currently counting the 8,328 votes on Mary Fitzgibbon.
Meanwhile, the ninth count for the Midlands North West region sees Labour's Fergal Landy eliminated.
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan is still leading with 81,122 votes, up by 638.
There are now 7,250 votes to distribute from Landy.
Midlands North West - Ninth Count:
— Tadgh McNally (@TadghMcN) June 11, 2024
Flanagan (IND): 81,122 (+638)
Carberry (FG): 75,090 (+135)
Cowen (FF): 74,603 (+115)
Walsh (FG): 72,415 (+241)
Mullooly (II): 59,606 (+804)
Gildernew (SF): 47,032 (+206)
Fergal Landy (Labour) eliminated - 7,250 votes to distribute
All four European seats have been filled in Dublin after a marathon 19 counts.
Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil will return to the European Parliament along with Fine Gael's Regina Doherty, Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan and Labour's Aodhán Ó Ríordáin following the elimination of Niall Boylan.
They join Fine Gael's Sean Kelly who has already been elected in Ireland South. However, counting in that constituency along with Midlands North West is expected to go on for at least another day.
Ms Doherty on 77,442 bypassed Mr Andrews on the final count who ended up elected second with 76,881 votes.
Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan came third with 68,235 votes and Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin took the final seat ending up on 63,526.
Ms Doherty described the feeling of victory as “absolutely wonderful”.
“I wasn’t the person responsible for getting me elected, there are hundreds of people,” she said.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said that he was “absolutely delighted” at Ms Doherty’s election.
Mr Andrews said he had run “a positive pro-EU campaign, we presented that to the people of Dublin”, one that had presented a “much more positive agenda” than some of the “extremist” ideologies which he said had been on the ballot.
With the conclusion of counts in Co Offlay, 946 out of 949 seats council seats have been filled in the local elections.
Fianna Fáil's Audrey Hennessy Kennedy and Sinn Féin's Sean Maher have taken the final two seat following a full recount in Birr.
The recount was asked by outgoing councillor Social Democrats Clare Claffey who finished 27 votes behind Maher on the 12th count.
Despite four errors being found by counters during the recount, she failed to overtake and was 26 votes behind.
The eighth count has just rolled in at the TF Royal in Castlebar, with Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan crossing the 80,000 votes mark for the Midlands North-West constituency.
Political reporter Tadgh McNally reports that despite Mr Flanagan hitting 80,484 votes, the closest four candidates remain in the same position with Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen in second and third respectively.
Fine Gael’s incumbent MEP Maria Walsh remains in the fourth slot, while Ciaran Mullooly continues to hunt for the fifth seat.
https://x.com/TadghMcN/status/1800617451358429534
In Ireland South, Independent MEP Mick Wallace took over 1,200 votes from the elimination of Cian Prendiville, leaving him with 55,600 votes in fifth place.
Political Correspondent Paul Hosford says it leaves Mr Wallace around 3,600 votes ahead of Sinn Féin's Kathleen Funchion, but the final shape of the race will be decided when larger vote getters like the far-right candidate Derek Blighe are eliminated tomorrow. Mr Blighe will likely have 30,000 votes by that stage and his transfers could prove crucial.
Representatives of different parties have noted that Mr Wallace has taken large transfers from both far-right candidates and far-left candidates like Mr Prendiville.
In Kildare, Sinn Féin's James Stokes was eliminated after a second recount in Newbridge found both his and Aontu's Melissa Byrne's votes equal.
The candidate with the lowest first preference vote, Stokes, was eliminated.
However, shortly afterwards Sinn Fein 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.
In the Dun-Laoghaire-Rathdown , 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 count in the area has now been concluded.
After the 18th count Green incumbent MEP Ciarán Cuffe has been eliminated after being unable to make up the lead on Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin or Independent Niall Boylan.
Cianan Brennan reports the distribution of votes saw Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan take 11,338 of the transfers from the already-eliminated Clare Daly, almost twice as many as the 5,001 gained by Ó Ríordáin, and the 4,558 picked up by Mr Boylan.
That sees Lynn Boylan sitting some 15,000 votes in third place ahead of Mr Boylan ahead of what is likely to be a definitive count sometime in the next 90 minutes.
Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty, though well clear of the field, once more will be made to wait after neither picked up enough votes to reach the quota of 75,345.
Mr Cuffe’s votes, 43,582 of them, will now be distributed among the remaining five candidates.
Outgoing Green MEP Ciarán Cuffe has paid tribute to his likely successors in the European Parliament Lynn Boylan and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.
Speaking after his elimination on the 18th count for the Dublin constituency, Mr Cuffe said that Ms Boylan had a good reputation in his time in the parliament, and was spoken well of by his colleagues and that he had “no doubt that Aodhán will do the same”.
He spoke positively of the fact that “it looks as though we will be sending committed legislators to Europe”.
“That is hugely important because there are some clouds over the European project at this time. It has to be remembered that the European Union is a peace project,” Mr Cuffe said.
“With a war on European soil, with divisions in many countries, with populists doing extraordinarily well in the polls, it is a hugely important time for a politics that works for everyone, that is focused on helping the least well off in society. I think that’s something I stood for,” he said.
Mr Cuffe would not be drawn on whether or not he would run in the coming general election.
“I’m going to take a few weeks off, I’m looking forward to sitting down with a cold drink and some salted peanuts before thinking about my next move,” he said.
Far-right agitator Derek Blighe was the biggest beneficiary of fellow anti-migrant campaigner Ross Lahive's elimination, taking 791 votes as the sixth count for the Ireland South constituency concludes.
Political Correspondent Paul Hosford reports the Irish Freedom Party's Michael Leahy added 601 to his tally, while Mick Wallace received 406. Mr Wallace's strong showing in transfers from a far-right candidate could be bad news for Sinn Féin.
Mr Blighe is currently on over 26,000 votes and if Mr Wallace was to receive a decent percentage of that, he would extend his lead on Kathleen Funchion, making it more difficult for her to reel him in for the fifth seat.
Graham De Barra has been eliminated, with a seventh count due in an hour.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has downplayed comments by Michelle Gildernew that the party is out of the running in Midlands North West, saying that it will be tomorrow before “we actually know the real lie of the land” reports Tadgh McNally.
However, Mr Doherty admitted that it is an “uphill battle” for the party to take a seat in the constituency, but that sitting MEP Chris MacManus is still “a good bit off” from being eliminated.
Asked about Ms Gildernew’s comments that she isn’t optimistic, Mr Doherty said that it was “impossible” to say how the transfers will go due to a lack of tallies.
The Donegal TD also defended the leadership of Mary Lou McDonald, saying that she is not being questioned within the party.
“We’re up for it. Mary Lou’s up for it. The leadership of Sinn Féin is up for it. So we just need to get on with it,” Mr Doherty said.
Mr Doherty was direct when asked if he wanted to be the next leader of Sinn Féin.
“No,” he told reporters.
Tadgh McNally reports that the seventh count in Midlands North West has now been completed, with no change in the current top five.
Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan looks set to hit 80,000 votes in the coming hours, while Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen remain in close competition for second place.
Fourth and fifth places respectively remain as Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh and Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly.
As we prepare for the eighth count, Anthony Cahill of the Irish People has been eliminated, with his 6,124 votes set to be distributed.
Midlands North West - Seventh Count:
— Tadgh McNally (@TadghMcN) June 11, 2024
Flanagan (IND): 79,842 (+260)
Carberry (FG): 74,592 (+243)
Cowen (FF): 74,326 (+89)
Walsh (FG): 72,067 (+40)
Mullooly (II): 58,513 (+117)
Gildernew (SF): 46,485 (+102)
Anthony Cahill (The Irish People) eliminated@irishexaminer
Independent John Moran has been declared the first-ever directly elected Mayor of Limerick City and County.
Watch the moment he gets elected as Mayor:
Meanwhile, with the conclusion of counts in Meath, 944 out of 949 seats council seats have been filled in the local elections.
We are now down to the final five in the locals.
Back to Nemo Rangers in Cork, the fourth Ireland South count has seen the 3,592 votes of Christopher VS Doyle break mostly to Kerry nursing lecturer Mary Fitzgibbon, who received 561 votes.
Mick Wallace took 273, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú 211, Billy Kelleher 206 and John Mullins 204 reports Political Correspondent Paul Hosford.
The figures are too small to have had an impact on the overall standings with four seats left to elect. Fianna Fáil's Billy Kelleher remains way out in front with 93,290 votes, with independent TD Michael McNamara on 57,298 in third place. Cynthia Ní Mhurchú is in fourth with 56,259 and sitting MEP Mick Wallace is fifth on 53,701.
Far-right anti-migrant candidate Ross Lahive has been eliminated and his 4,636 votes are being distributed now. A fifth count is due around 6pm.
Back to the RDS count centre, Clare Daly has lost her seat as an MEP after being eliminated from the Dublin count for the European elections.
reporter Cianan Brennan reports the Independents 4 Change candidate received 6,464 transfers from People Before Profit’s Brid Smith which was not enough to keep her in the race, with Sinn Fein’s Lynn Boylan receiving 5,899 and Labour’s Aodhan O Riordain 4,508.
Those figures serve to consolidate Ms Boylan’s position in third place and have moved Mr Ó Ríordain about 1,600 votes ahead of the Green’s Ciaran Cuffe.
The next count will see Ms Daly’s 39,000 votes distributed.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Ms Daly’s chances in the hour preceding the latest count, given the bundles clearly being allocated to Mr O Riordain and Ms Boylan by counters.
In a statement, Ms Daly thanked “everyone who voted for me and all of the people I've had the privilege of working with over my time as an MEP, in Ireland, across Europe, and beyond”.
“I have been honoured to have been able to use this platform as a powerful voice for peace, antimilitarism and neutrality. This result is not a rejection of those ideas,” she said.
She added that the proof of her success in Europe was that “the establishment came out in such force to harm my chances of reelection”.
“We continue the fight,” she said.
Meanwhile, the sixth count for Midlands North West has come and gone, with the five lead candidates not changing position.
Political reporter Tadgh McNally reports that Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is up over 500 votes, extending his lead to 79,582, while other candidates have remained steady.
The latest candidate to be eliminated is Justin Barrett, the former leader of the National Party.
It is expected that counts will continue late into the night, with hopes that as many candidates as possible will be eliminated before close of business.
Billy Kelleher remains the candidate closest to the quota after concluding a third count for Ireland South.
At the Nemo Rangers GAA club in Cork, Political Correspondent Paul Hosford reports the distribution of 2,485 votes of Ciarán O'Riordan, has been finished.
The biggest beneficiary has been Michael McNamara, who picked up 292 votes to go to 57,154, while Mick Wallace took 235 to go to 53,428. Christopher VS Doyle has been eliminated and his 3,592 votes are being distributed.
Billy Kelleher remains the candidate closest to the quota, but still 21,000 off.
The results of the sixth count for the Midlands North West region are due imminently.
However, Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew has downplayed the chances of clinching the final seat in Midlands North West, saying that she is “not overly optimistic” to overtake Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly.
Ms Gildernew told Tadgh McNally that while she had been in this situation before and that it isn’t over until “the last count has been completed”, she doesn’t believe she can overtake Mr Mullooly.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted. We’re still in the mix, but I’m probably not overly optimistic that I can overtake Ciaran Mullooly at this stage.
“I think he’s probably going to scrape in with the last seat, so that’s just the nature of elections.
“I think we’ve probably resigned to the fact at this stage that we won’t win the last seat," Ms Gildernew said.
Back to Limerick where Fianna Fáil's Dee Ryan says her party encouraged her to go further in politics.
Ms Ryan who performed well in the race to be Limerick's first-ever directly elected mayor finished in third place.
Reporter David Raleigh says sources close to Ms Ryan say she has ambitions now to seek a Fianna Fáil nomination to run for the party in the next General Election in Limerick.
3.30pm
Fianna Fáil's Dee Ryan has been eliminated from the Limerick mayoral contest. Just two candidates - Independents John Moran and Helen McDonnell - remain in the race.
Dee Ryan collected over 18,800 votes before being eliminated on the eleventh count.
Her votes will now be distributed among the two remaining candidates John Moran who is on 24,958 and Helen O'Donnell on 19,353.
In the Dublin count centre, count 16 is done.
People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith is the latest elimination, and still no one has been elected, or even come close to the quota for that matter.
“I’m glad it’s all over to be honest, it’s been a long old haul,” she said. She adds that she hopes her 28,772 votes are transferred to Daly, something she has been calling for. But, she concedes, this has been a “weird election”, so who can say.
As expected the Social Democrats’ Sinead Gibney’s 18,000 strong vote went majorly to Ciaran Cuffe and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, with 3,207 and 4,433 respectively.
A few candidates have shown up in Cork and Castlebar.
At the Ireland South count centre, Fianna Fáil's Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has arrived at Nemo Rangers, where she sits in fourth position, giving the party a chance at a second seat.
She said that she is "absolutely honoured and delight" and "humbled" by her vote of over 55,000. The former RTÉ host and current solicitor would not be drawn on whether she will remain in politics should she not be successful here, but indicated she would.
She said he experience of politics has been "so positive" and that she would "find it very hard to leave that all behind me".
Meanwhile, at the Midlands-North-West count centre, Senator Niall Blaney has been noncommittal in whether or not he plans to run again for the Seanad, saying that he will consider it.
The MEP candidate admitted that he was out of the running for a seat. Mr Blaney is currently polling at 30,492 votes, well below his party colleagues Barry Cowen and Lisa Chambers.
Mr Blaney said that transfers from himself and Ms Chambers would be key to electing Mr Cowen.
Asked if two candidates could have seen two Fianna Fáil MEPs elected in Midlands North West, Mr Blaney said: “Maybe, there’s always a possibility.”
“But it is what it is now. I’m not a man who holds grudges, I say what I have to say when I need to say it, and I’ve done that,” he said, referring to an internal party row over candidate selection.
“It’s time for me to take a step back and analyse everything over the next number of weeks and see where I go from here personally.”
Here's Political Reporter Tadgh McNally with more on the state of play in the Midlands:
At the Nemo Rangers GAA club in Cork, Political Correspondent Paul Hosford reports that re-elected Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly's distributed surplus votes have seen Fianna Fáil's Billy Kelleher pick up 1,963 more votes, giving him a total of 93,000.
Fine Gael's John Mullins has picked up 2,633 and Fianna Fáil's Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has picked up 770.
Independent candidate Ciaran O'Riordan has been eliminated.
Overall, there is an expectation that the Ireland South count could go on until Friday morning at this point.
The last three seats remain up for grabs, but Michael McNamara should be boosted when Independent Ireland's Eddie Punch is eliminated, meaning a face off between Ní Mhurchú, independent MEP Mick Wallace, Sinn Féin's Kathleen Funchion and sitting Green MEP Grace O'Sullivan.
After the fifth count over in the Midlands North-West constituency, Luke 'Ming' Flanagan is still in pole position with 79,019 votes. Both Fine Gael's Nina Carberry and Fianna Fáil's Barry Cowen are neck-and-neck for second place, with 74,286 and 74,204 votes respectively.
Fine Gael's Maria Walsh remains in fourth place, with 71,879 votes, and Independent Ireland's Ciaran Mullooly picking up a lot of transfers, hitting 58,260 votes.
As we head into the sixth count, People Before Profit's Brian O'Boyle has been eliminated, with his votes now due to be distributed.
The local election results are still coming in! In Carlow, the count in the Tullow LEA has concluded.
With Brian O'Donoghue (FG) and Jim Deane (SF) elected, there are now just 10 unfilled council seats in the country.
Not too many candidates about in the Simmonscourt as we head for count 16.
Labour’s Aodhán O’Ríordáin and Ciaran Cuffe will likely do well from Sinead Gibney’s 18,000 transfers.
After that, things start to get complicated. It will be a proper dogfight for the fourth seat.
Back to Dublin where count fifteen in Dublin sees the 14,117 votes of Aontu’s Aisling Considine redistributed, reports Cianan Brennan.
Not unexpectedly, the big winner this time out was Niall Boylan, who picked up 3,223 transfers. That still leaves him 2,500 shy of Lynn Boylan though who got 795 herself and now stands on 45, 780.
Both Barry Andrews and Regina Doherty picked up about 1,000 votes apiece. The Social Democrats Sinead Gibney is now gone, 441 votes shy of her deposit, which will sting.
Her 18,396 votes will be redistributed next.
Independent incumbent Clare Daly did very well out of the Aontu vote – coming out with 1,221 transfers of her own. She’s still adrift of Ciaran Cuffe and Aodhan O Riordain, but Brid Smith will be the next eliminated, and a huge amount of her 25,750 votes will likely transfer to Ms Daly.
Fully 4,700 of the Aontu candidates votes failed to transfer, which answers the question of where they were likely to transfer. The answer? A third of them didn’t go anywhere really.
Fine Gael's Daniel Butler has been eliminated from the Limerick mayoral contest. Just three candidates - Independents John Moran and Helen McDonnell and Fianna Fáil's Dee Ryan - remain in the race.
Daniel Butler collected over 13,600 votes before being eliminated on the tenth count.
John Moran is steadily attracting transfers and remains on track to become Ireland's first ever directly-elected mayor.
- Sitting Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh speaks to Political Reporter Tadgh McNally about the ongoing race in the five-seat Midlands North-West constituency.
Back to Dublin now where Cianan Brennan reports that the first count of the day from the RDS Simmonscourt has seen, unsurprisingly, Sinn Fein’s Lynn Boylan pick up the lion’s share of transfers from her running mate Daithi Doolan.
The 7,498 transfers Ms Boylan has received put her firmly back in third place of four ahead of former DJ Niall Boylan, with 44,985 leading 40,012 respectively, Mr Boylan receiving just 397 transfers on the fourteenth count.
The next biggest winner was People Before Profit’s Brid Smith with 938 bringing her to 25,222 votes.
The Green’s Ciaran Cuffe and Labour’s Aodhan O Riordain are in fifth and sixth place, 7,000 and 8,000 votes adrift of Mr Boylan.
Aontu’s Aisling Considine has now been eliminated and her 14,117 votes will be distributed. Where they will go is the big unanswered question.
Front runners Barry Andrews and Regina Doherty will have to wait a bit longer to be confirmed as the first two candidates elected for the Dublin constituency, though that’s just a question of time.
Meanwhile, the Social Democrats Sinead Gibney remains a concerned presence at the count centre. She’s still about 900 votes away from regaining her deposit, and as things stand she’ll be the next candidate eliminated.
There was some suggestion she might look for a full recount, but given the gap she still has to bridge that is looking a deal less likely at this stage.
James Reynolds, the disputed leader of the far-right National Party, has been eliminated from the Midlands North-West MEP race on count four.
Fourth Count has just been completed in Midlands North West
— Tadgh McNally (@TadghMcN) June 11, 2024
Flanagan (IND): 78,855 (+155)
Carberry (FG): 74,193 (+83)
Cowen (FF): 74,110 (+69)
Walsh (FG): 71,780 (+87)
Mullooly (II): 57,809 (+279)
Gildernew (SF): 46,050 (+93)
Reynolds (NP) eliminated
Back to Limerick where Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has been excluded from the Treaty County's mayoral election after count eight.
Count 9 is now under way and Mr Quinlivan's 11,571 votes are being distributed.
Four candidates remain in the race: Independents John Moran and Helen McDonnell, Dee Ryan of Fianna Fáil, and Daniel Butler of Fine Gael.
In Castlebar, counting has resumed in Midlands North-West constituency.
A quick recap of where things stand there:
Sitting Independent MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan was top of the poll after count 3 with 78,700 votes.
Fine Gael's Nina Carbey was in second place with 74,110, followed by Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen on 74,041, Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh on 71,693, and Ciaran Mullooly of the Independent Alliance on 57,530.
And speaking of Kenmare, Independent candidate Dan McCarthy and his supporters chose to celebrate his election with a spot of impromptu line dancing:
With the conclusion of the count for the Kenmare LEA on Monday night, all 33 seats on Kerry County Council have now been filled.
In terms of its makeup, the council will include 11 Independents - 3 more than the last time around - 9 Fianna Fáil representatives, six from Fine Gael, four from Sinn Féin, two from Labour, and one from the Kerry Independent Alliance.
Counting has resumed in Limerick in the inaugural directly elected mayor election, David Raleigh reports.
However, it is likely we will have to wait until tonight, or perhaps tomorrow, before an announcement is made. There are a lot of votes to count yet as we get down to the final five candidates out of what was a starting 15.
John Moran (Ind) remains out in front on 19,719 votes, with Helen O’Donnell (Ind) on 14,288, Dee Ryan (FF) on 12,288, Daniel Butler (FG) on 11,337, and Maurice Quinlivan (SF) on 9,528, bringing up the rear of the chasing pack.
Counting staff are currently sorting through 9,488 votes of Frankie Daly (Ind) and Elisa O’Donovan SD, after they were both eliminated after count eight overnight.
To Carlow now, where a second recount is due to take place amid an extremely close race for the final two council seats of this seven-seater.
The last recount had Fine Gael's Brian O’Donoghue on 894, Sinn Féin's Jim Deane on 893, and Fine Gael's Catherine Callaghan on 892. The result of the second recount will not be announced until later this morning
With only a couple votes separating Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the race to become the biggest party in local Government, Political Editor Elaine Loughlin reports that Taoiseach Simon Harris has told members of his own party that Fine Gael is on track to win 245 local seats and will see four MEPs elected.
In a voice note sent to Fine Gael candidates this morning, Simon Harris described the results as “incredible” but added that the work continues and he is back at his desk.
He said: "I'm really encouraged by the results, to have polled more first preference votes than any other party in the local elections for what I think is only the second time in the history of our country, to have polled more first preference votes in the European elections than any other party is a testament to your hard work, the work we've done on the ground, and the listening and responding we have done to key issues and concerns being raised by people and particularly over the last number of weeks."
In a message sent to a Fine Gael candidates WhatsApp group, Mr Harris said he has been Taoiseach for 63 days and in that time actions have been taken in a number of areas including migration.
Here's a quick recap of where things stand in race to become Limerick's first ever directly elected mayor.
After right counts, and the distribution of Labour Candidate Conor Sheehan's votes, John Moran (Ind) is on 19,719.
In second place is Helen O'Donnell (Ind) on 14,288, while Dee Ryan (FF) is third on 12,937.
While most count centres closed again for the night between 10pm and 11pm, some continued beyond that.
To begin this morning, let's recap some overnight developments:
• Vote counting adjourned in the Midlands-North-West constituency shortly before 1am. No candidates reached the quota there after three counts.
Independent outgoing MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan topped the poll, followed by Fine Gael's Nina Carberry and Fianna Fáil's Barry Cowen.
The fourth count will get under way at 10am this morning.
• Three days in to counting, just a handful of LEAs are yet to fill their remaining seats. These include: Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Kildare County Council, Meath County Council, Offaly County Council, and Carlow County Council.
• In Offaly's Birr LEA, a recount was requested after the 12th count.
At around midnight, just 27 votes separated Social Democrats candidate Clare Claffey - who requested the recount - from Sinn Féin's Sean Maher.
The full recount will commence at 2pm on Tuesday afternoon.