LIVE: Election 2024 — Day three count as it happened
West To 'ming' At Picture: Niall The In The Luke Tf Royal Castlebar For Flanagan North Speaking Media Constituency Candidate Carson Theatre Midlands
The third day of counting in the local and European elections has been completed with the majority of local council seats filled and one MEP elected.
Below you can see how day three played out and you can follow day four of vote counting here.
- Seán Kelly has become the first MEP elected, topping the poll in Ireland South on the first count.
- No candidate has reached the quota for the Dublin MEP seats after the 12th count but Independent Ireland's Niall Boylan was boosted up to third at the end of the counting for Monday
- Luke 'Ming' Flanagan topped the polled in Midlands North-West but no candidate has reached the quota yet
- The first five counts of the Limerick mayoral election has seen no one reach the quota, but Independent John Moran tops the poll.
- Only 21 seats are left to fill in the local elections.
- Follow all the results at the Irish Examiner election hub.
We are wrapping up our Monday liveblog for the elections, so let's take a look at the situation.
:
- In , and are best placed to be elected as MEPs, with also holding on to the other two positions after the 12th count
- In , was elected on the first count - but his transfers will likely take more than a day to sift through, meaning there won't be a second candidate confirmed until Wednesday at the earliest.
- In , no candidate reached the quota but topped the poll but there is an almighty dogfight in store for the full five seats as look in good shape.
- In the local elections, only available seats are yet to be filled, with a number of recounts set to take place on Tuesday morning. You can see the full breakdown on the Irish Examiner election hub.
- In the , eight counts in and remains on top with a 5,000+ lead on his closest challenger but still 20,000 votes away from reaching the quota.
- and are neck-and-neck to become the most popular party in the elections
Thank you for following along with our coverage today!
Speaking to the Tadgh McNally following the first count, Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan said that he was “delighted” to top the poll.
“I’d be a sad sort of individual if I wasn’t delighted at topping the poll,” Mr Flanagan said, recalling when he ran for Europe and Dana received around 85,000 votes.
“I’m up close to those figures now, so I’m delighted.”
While he said that that votes should shake out for him as candidates are eliminated, Mr Flanagan remained cautious saying that he still required a further 34,000 votes to reach the quota.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh said that she is “really happy” with her first preference vote, but that she would be waiting for the final counts.
“As a Mayo GAA supporter, I also know that you do not believe in the final whistle until you hear the final whistle. So we have a couple more days to go,” Ms Walsh said.
Ms Walsh said that she and Nina Carberry ran a “very tight strategy” and had kept it straight throughout, with no breaking party-set boundaries.
The Fine Gael MEP said that she had “never doubted” that both candidates would do well, but that there are “long” days ahead as counts continue.
Fianna Fail's Donal Mandy Kelly is joined by Tomás Sean Devine of 100%Redress to close out the Letterkenny LEA in Donegal.
Counting is also complete in the Kingdom, as Inds Podge Foley and Dan McCarthy and FG's Teddy O'Sullivan Casey took the final seats in the Kenmare LEA to round out Kerry County Council.
In Laois, Portlaoise LEA has also filled all of its seats with four candidates elected on the 14th count - Fianna Fáil duo John Joe Fennelly and Catherine Fitzgerald as well as Labour's Marie Tuohy and Fine Gael's Barry Walsh.
The last update for tonight in the RDS has seen Independent Ireland's Niall Boylan boosted into third.
The transfers from independent Malachy Steenson saw a massive 4,494 votes go to the radio host putting him ahead of Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan.
The 13th count has seen fellow Sinn Féin candidate Daithí Doolan eliminated so there will be hopes that Lynn Boylan will see her own transfer boost when counting resumes tomorrow at 10am.
As things stand in Dublin, the top four are:
- Fianna Fáil Barry Andrews - 63,866
- Fine Gael Regina Doherty - 62,509
- Independent Ireland Niall Boylan - 39,615
- Sinn Féin Lynn Boylan - 37,487
Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has topped the poll in Midlands North West, after two marathon days of counting at the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar.
The Independent MEP secured 78,214 first-preference votes in the first count, followed closely by Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen, who received 73,908.
Both Fine Gael candidates, Nina Carberry and Maria Walsh, took home a sizeable share each, with 73,908 and 71,476 first-preference votes respectively.
No candidate has been elected though, as the quota is set at 113,325.
We have reached the end in Wexford at last, after the Rosslare recount which lasted almost 11 hours.
Taking the final seats in Wexford are Lisa McDonald (FF) and Aoife Rose O'Brien (SF).
Letterkenny LEA have completed their counts too, as Independent candidate Michael McBride joined Fianna Fáil's Donal Coyle to take the last two seats on Donegal County Council.
Fianna Fail newcomer Sean Moylan, outgoing Fine Gael councillor Liam Callaghan and outgoing Independent councillor Tom Crosby have filled the last three of the 18 seats on Roscommon County Council after an election in Boyle LEA.
The final four seats have been filled in Ballymahon LEA this evening as the count for Longford County Council comes to an end.
Mark Casey (Ind) has reached the quota and was deemed elected. The remaining three seats were filled by Pat O'Toole (FF), Sean Mimnagh (FF) and Martin Skelly (FG) without meeting the quota.
In terms of the most popular party, the Political Editor Elaine Loughlin has the breakdown.
She reports that the two main Government parties have put in strong performances at local level and are now neck and neck with 234 seats each.
However, Fianna Fáil is confident that the party will leapfrog Fine Gael to take the largest share of council seats.
Fianna Fail's Director of Elections Jack Chambers said: "I have been reviewing the counts and seat numbers all day and I now have growing confidence that Fianna Fáil will remain as the largest party of local government when all the votes are counted and the full democratic process has concluded.
"We are in a really strong position as the final seats are declared."
This is the moment that Seán Kelly became Ireland's first MEP of the 2024 elections.
The Fine Gael candidate retained his seat in Ireland South, topping the poll with a surplus of over 8,000 from his nearest challenged, Fianna Fáíl's Billy Kelleher.
While the MEP races continue, we are still filling the remaining council seats across the island, with just 36 more candidates left to be elected.
The latest updates saw Ciarán Brogan (FF) and Jimmy Kavanagh (FG) elected on the 13th count in this seven seater of Letterkenny LEA.
Fionnan Blake (SF) and Gerry O'Connor (FG) were both elected for Ratoath LEA in Meath, where Mike Bray (FF), Peter Caffrey and Michael Gallagher (both SF) and Independent David Gilroy won the final four seats in Kells LEA.
Hugh Egan of Fine Gael is also celebrating after he took a seat in Birr LEA in Offaly on the 11th count.
The four European seats in Dublin remained unclaimed as the count came to a close in the RDS on Monday night.
Progress was slow as the number of candidates were slowly whittled down in what was a quiet day at the count centre where the day's events did little to change the top of the leaderboard.
Fianna Fáil's Barry Andrews and Fine Gael's Regina Doherty will take a seat each leaving four contenders to battle it out over the remaining two - Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan, Green Party's Ciarán Cuffe, Independent Ireland's Niall Boylan, and Labour's Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.
The transfers from those eliminated have been somewhat scattered meaning that there were few sizable boosts for any candidate.
Unsurprisingly, many of the transfers from independents on the right went to others of a similar ilk.
However, by day's end there were no independents left in the race once Malachy Steenson was eliminated shortly after 9pm.
As it stands in , the top four are:
- Fianna Fáil Barry Andrews - 63,740
- Fine Gael Regina Doherty - 62,389
- Sinn Féin Lynn Boylan - 37,099
- Independent Ireland Niall Boylan - 35,121
Fine Gael's Sean Kelly has become the first MEP elected in Ireland.
Mr Kelly was elected in on the first count in Nemo Rangers GAA Club after a marathon count with 122,777 votes, bringing a surplus of 8,016
The quota was 114,761.
That surplus is largely expected to benefit Fianna Fáil's Billy Kelleher, who finished second with 91,074 , votes.
Independent TD Michael McNamara was in third, while Fianna Fáil's Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and independent MEP Mick Wallace occupied fourth and fifth place.
Mr McNamara was considered to be in a commanding position, but the final two seats could go to any one of Ms Ní Mhurchú, Mr Wallace, Green MEP Grace O'Sullivan or Sinn Féin's Kathleen Funchion.
Fine Gael candidate and student Dan Carson has been deemed elected in Blackrock after a full recheck of the 11 counts and the original declaration stands.
While Independent Tommy Mulligan is on the ticket in Portlaoise LEA.
We are expecting a count in the Midlands North-West MEP election at around 9pm, while one could be coming shortly for Ireland South.
Here, the Irish Examiner's Paul Hosford and Liz Dunphy analyse how things are shaping up in Ireland South based off the ballots so far.
We have passed the 900-seat mark in the local elections!
In the Laois County Council hunt, the Borris-in-Ossory-Mountmellick LEA, the final four seats of Paddy Bracken and Seamus McDonald (both FF), John King (FG) and Ollie Clooney (Ind) have moved us onto 902 filled seats.
You can dig deeper into every single one of them at our tracker here.
We are through a fourth count in the Limerick Mayoral race - and two further candidates have been excluded.
Caitríona Ní Chathaín and Laura Keyes are out of the running.
John Moran still has a lead of over 5,000 on his nearest challenger Helen O'Donnell.
For those of you on recount watch, three will begin again on Tuesday morning - in Tullow, Tralee and Navan LEAs.
Mary Lou McDonald has decisively rejected claims that Sinn Féin's poor showing in the elections thus far signals a need for a change in leadership.
Responding to comments by Aontú leader Peadar Toibín that there is an appetite on the ground for Pearse Doherty to succeed Ms McDonald before the next trip to the polls, she told the in no uncertain terms that she would remain in situ.
"I am the leader of Sinn Féin and I will lead the party into the next general election and prior to that, in this short review period, I will lead the reflection that I have described," she said.
This reflection period will see an examination of their campaign strategy and how to win back support that has been lost since the general election in 2020.
She spoke of a "bruising weekend" for Sinn Féin where they failed to meet their ambitions.
Ms McDonald said that in hindsight it is clear that the party overcorrected from having run too few candidates in that election, to running too many and splitting the vote this time around.
The party leader said that she is looking ahead to the upcoming general election - which she believes will likely be held this autumn - with excitement.
"We are not too far off the general election and that's the big contest for us and I am very determined that we will be ready," she said.
Ten counts down in the Dublin MEP election and Independent candidate Umar Al-Qadri has been excluded.
More than 1,000 transfers from the previous elimination of the Irish Freedom Party candidate have gone to Philip Dwyer.
However, it is Fianna Fáil's Barry Andrews (62,784), Fine Gael's Regina Doherty (61,878), Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan (36,497) in the hunt for the first seat.
In fourth spot, the Greens' candidate Ciarán Cuffe (33,095) is just 42 seats ahead of Independent candidate Niall Boylan.
7pm
First-time Fine Gael candidate John Mullins says that the last seat in Ireland South will be a "real fight".
Arriving at Nemo Rangers, the businessman said that it was "clear" that Sean Kelly would carry a surplus of votes but that he hoped to be in the mix when transfers are being distributed.
"I think in comparison to where the polls are, I think we've had a bit of a difference from what the poll trends were over the last while. Certainly that's borne through right across communities as well. You know, clearly Sinn Féin are not performing as strongly as one was expecting. And certainly, I think there's an opportunity for the government to actually get three seats here."
Mr Mullins said that it was too early to say, however, whether he would contest the general election if he was not elected to the European Parliament.
We are rolling through the counts in the Limerick Mayoral election.
The third count has seen Animal Welfare candidate Gerben Uunk eliminated.
John Moran remains the front runner, but we are in for a long night ahead as he remains a large amount away from the quota.
A second count for the Limerick Mayoral election has been announced, with People Before Profit candidate Ruairí Fahy eliminated.
John Moran remains in the lead.
It's as you were in the race for the Dublin MEP seats after a ninth count, with Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty, Lynn Boylan and Ciarán Cuffe holding on to the four spots at the moment but all remain more than 10,000 votes off reaching the quota.
Diarmuid Ó Conaráin of the Irish Freedom Party has been eliminated.
In the Midlands North-West race, Independent Ireland candidate Ciaran Mullooly has been speaking to the Irish Examiner's Tadgh McNally as counting continues in Castlebar.
He said that he is “in the mix” for the last seat in the constituency, with transfers from both Sinn Féin and Aontu to be “crucial”.
“We’ve clearly made a huge impact here. We’re going to be in the mix for, I believe, it will be the last seat – the fifth seat – and over the coming hours I think transfers are going to be the crucial issue,” Mr Mullooly said.
The first-time candidate said that while Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates are doing well, he wasn’t convinced that Sinn Féin are out just yet.
“For me, the issues I’m looking at most carefully will be the performance of Sinn Féin and Aontú in this situation, particularly Michelle Gildernew,” Mr Mullooly said.
He said that if Ms Gildernew is eliminated, her running mate Chris MacManus will “benefit greatly” from her transfers.
On Aontú, Mr Mullooly said that it was “crucial” for him to remain ahead of Peadar Tóibin to be in with a shot of the final seat.
Asked about what it was like being on the other side of the count, Mr Mullooly admitted that he hated election counts and that he was “nervous as hell” ahead of results being confirmed.
More local seats being filled and Westmeath County Council have now closed their counting with the elections of Bill Collentine and Aoife Davitt (both FF), Andrew Duncan (FG) and Julie McCourt (SF) in Mullingar LEA.
In the same county, Niall Gaffney (FF) and Emily Wallace (FG) rounding out the Kinnegad LEA.
In Meath, Laytown-Bettystown LEA is done too with Carol Lennon (Ind), and Maria White (SF) taking the final two seats there.
Counting is also finished in Fingal with David Healy of the Green Party and Eoghan O’Brien of Fianna Fáil elected in Malahide/Howth
Meanwhile, a second recount has been announced for the Letterkenny Electoral Area in Donegal.
Similarly, Tullow LEA will begin a second recount in Carlow on Tuesday morning.
The latest from political correspondent Paul Hosford makes for worrying reading for Sinn Féin in the MEP race.
He says that there is a "real belief" in Nemo Rangers GAA club that Fianna Fáil will take two seats in Ireland South.
That would put Sinn Féin into a massive fight for the fifth seat.
A few more elected representatives around the country.
Fianna Fáil's Mick Cahill has just been elected to Ballymahon LEA on the fifth count in Longford.
Conor Tormey of Fianna Fáil and Helen Meyer of Sinn Féin have been elected in Ashbourne LEA in Meath, where counting is now complete.
The Killiney-Shankill LEA in Dun Laoghaire is also finished, with Dave O'Keeffe of People Before Profit-Solidarity and the Green Party's Lauren Tuite winning the final two seats.
As we head into another evening here at the RDS, political reporter Michelle McGlynn says we are still a way off from filling the first seat in the Dublin constituency.
We are at the ninth count coming up to 6pm and current leader Fianna Fáil's Barry Andrews is still almost 13,000 votes away from reaching the quota with Fine Gael's Regina Doherty just 1,000 behind.
So far, eight candidates have been eliminated: from the National Party's Patrick Quinlan and Rebecca Barrett; Andy Heasman from The Irish People; and Independents Brendan Ogle, Stephen O'Rourke, Eamonn Murphy, Conor Murphy, and Robin Cafolla.
Four candidates are currently trailling with less than 9,000 votes each - Irish Freedom Party's Diarmaid Ó Conaráin (5,023), Independent Umar Al-Qadri (5,121), Ireland First's Philip Dwyer (5,603), and Independent Malachy Steenson (8,307).
For now, we continue to play the waiting game until transfer numbers begin to make a sizable difference.
The first count is in for the Limerick mayoral election!
Independent candidate John Moran has topped the poll with 18,308 first preferences.
However, he and all the other candidates are far off the quota of 39,873
Independent Helen O'Donnell is placed second, with 12,903 votes, followed by Fianna Fáil's Dee Ryan in third on 11,785 and Fine Gael's Daniel Butler on 10,190 in fourth.
Independent Colm Ó Móráin has been excluded and his votes will be distributed in the second count.
In Dublin, Brendan Ogle has been eliminated in the MEP race.
The transfers from Rebecca Barrett have been very kind for Niall Boylan, who is now within 800 votes of Green Party's Ciarán Cuffe for the fourth seat.
Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty and Lynn Boylan occupy the top three spots after eight counts.
We are slowly approaching the 900-mark in terms of seats filled.
In Meath, Independent councillor Nick Killian has been elected to Ratoath's LEA, while in the Laytown-Bettystown LEA, Fianna Fáil's Wayne Harding has taken a seat.
In their neighbouring county of Westmeath, Fianna Fáil candidate Alfie Devine and Sinn Féin's David Jones have taken two seats in Kinnegad.
The election count in Tralee has come to an exciting end as Fianna Fáil’s Anne O’Sullivan, a first-time candidate, and independent candidate Thomas McEllistrim, a former Fianna Fáil TD, battled it out to the bitter end.
However, it was Ms O’Sullivan who took the seventh and final seat in the Tralee LEA with an end result of 1,251 votes on the 14th count.
The remaining three seats on Galway City Council have been filled with outgoing Fianna Fáil councillors John Connolly (13th count) and Peter Keane (14th count), along with Labour’s Niall McNelis (14th count) all being elected in Galway City West.
All 18 seats on Galway City Council have now been filled.
Elsewhere, the last three seats in the Longford LEA have been filled by Niall Gannon (FG), Uruemu Adejinmi (FF), and Kevin Hussey (FF) on the 14th count.
In Castlebar, count staff are estimating that the first results will be available between 7pm and 9pm this evening.
It is looking good for a number of candidates, with counted ballots piling up in their thousands on shelves at the back of the centre. In particular, Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen appear to be in the lead, with Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh and Nina Carberry looking like they’re neck and neck.
“I suppose the piles of votes over there are a clear representation of how it’s going. It looks like myself and Barry Cowen are going to be the first two after the first count,” Mr Flanagan said, speaking to reporters at the centre.
Mr Flanagan added that both Aontú’s Peadar Toibín and Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly also appear to be in contention for a seat in the constituency, but that it is unclear how transfers will go.
The Athlone LEA has now finished with independent Irelands Paul Hogan taking the fifth and final seat.
In Dublin, John Burtchaell of People Before Profit has been elected for the Blanchardstown/Mulhuddart area in Fingal
And in Laois, Pádraig Fleming (FF) and Aisling Moran (Ind) have taken seats on the council for the Graiguecullen-Portarlington LEA.
Mr Flanagan said that the Government may get the wrong message from the local results and become complacent ahead of a GE.
"It might make them deluded as to the idea that Simon Harris is some sort of savior and I think the general election will show that he isn't," he said.
Two more eliminations in the Dublin MEP race - Robin Caffolla of Rabharta and Patrick Quinlan of the National Party have been excluded.
Full counts are available on the Irish Examiner's election results hub.
While we wait for more news on the European front, we have a few more seats filled on local councils.
In Meath, Fine Gael's Alan Tobin has been elected for the Ashbourne LEA, while counting in Trim LEA in the same county is complete with Aontú's Dave Boyne, Fianna Fáil duo Padraig Coffey and Aisling Dempsey, and the Social Democrats' Ronan Moore all taking seats on the eighth count.
In Dublin, Fine Gael’s Lynn McCrave and David McManus, Fianna Fáil’s Yvonne Collins and the Social Democrats’ Justin Sinnott were all elected on the 11th count for Rathfarnham-Templeogue on Monday afternoon.
Patrick Quinlan has elected for the National Party in Fingal in the capital along with JK Onwumereh of Fianna Fáil and Mary McCamley of the Labour Party
Counting is complete in the Carlow LEA too - Independent Ireland's John Cassin, Fine Gael's Paul Doogue, Ken Murnane of Fianna Fáil and People Before Profit's Adrienne Wallace are all elected.
We also have a first count in Connemara South - with Tómas O Curraoin elected as an Independent. Noel Thomas (Ind) topped the poll with Padraig Mac an Iomaire (Fine Gael), Máirtin Lee (Fianna Fáil) and Michael Leainde (Independent Ireland) also elected.
And after much delay, there is finally some movement in Offaly, with a new councillor elected for the Birr area. John Clendennen’s re-election sees Fine Gael match its 2019 result of four representatives for Offaly
In Mayo's Ballina LEA, Mark Duffy (Ind) and John O'Hara (FG) have been elected after the first count. The count means that all of the country's 166 LEAs have completed at least one count.
Four more seats have been filled in Wexford to round out the Enniscorthy LEA.
Pat Kehoe (FG), Barbara-Anne Murphy (FF), John O'Rourke (Ind), and Jackser Owens (Ind) have now been elected on the eight count.
All that is left in Wexford is the Rosslare constituency, which is in the middle of a full recount at the moment.
All 32 seats on Waterford City and County Council have now been filled.
Across the LEAs of Tramore/Waterford City West, Waterford City East, Waterford City South, Dungarvan, Portlaw/Kilmacthomas, and Lismore, Fine Gael will have eight seats, Independents will also have eight, Sinn Féin seven, Fianna Fáil five, Labour three, and the Social Democrats one.
In the Dublin constituency European election, Independent Stephen O'Rourke has been eliminated after the fourth count. Full counts are available on the Irish Examiner's election results hub.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has also arrived at the count centre in the RDS. He has ruled out going straight to a general election if a number TDs are elected to Europe, stating: "I like by-elections".
Mr Martin has also strongly suggested that he will face down any request from Brussels to put forward a male and a female candidate to fill the role of Ireland's EU Commissioner.
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A full recount is taking place in the Kenmare LEA this afternoon.
The recount was requested by Social Democrats candidate Tim Clifford last night to check the order of elimination.
At the conclusion of the most recent tally, Mr Clifford was just 16 votes behind Green candidate Cleo Murphy.
Just two candidates were elected on the first count in Kenmare on Sunday: Independent Johnny Healy-Rae and Michael Cahill of Fianna Fáil. There are four more seats up for grabs in Kenmare.
In Westmeath, Conor Dowling-Linehan (SF), who called for a recount of the sixth count in the Athlone LEA, has just withdrawn his request. His votes will now be distributed.
Over to Wexford now where reporter Sean Murray is seeing some unexpected developments.
All involved at St Joseph's Community Centre in Wexford were buckling in for another long day with three recounts set to take place - for Rosslare, Gorey and Enniscorthy.
However, in a surprise twist, the requests for recounts in both Gorey and Enniscorthy were withdrawn on Monday paving the way for those counts to finish.
In Gorey, the elimination of Wexford Independent Alliance candidate Jimmy Fleming meant that Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (SF) and Anthony Donohoe (FG) took the final seats on the 11th count.
The final seats in Enniscorthy should be filled early this afternoon but there is no indication yet how long the recount in Rosslare will take, with just one vote separating Mick Roche (SF) and Simon Boyse (FF) on the sixth count there yesterday.
Back to the RDS and the European Parliament election for the Dublin constituency, Independent candidate Eamonn Murphy has been excluded on the second count.
A reminder that in that race, Fianna Fáil's Barry Andrews topped the first count Sunday evening with 62,147 votes.
Behind him came Fine Gael's Regina Doherty on 61,344, Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan on 35,431, Green MEP Ciarán Cuffe on 32,204, Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin on 30,733, Niall Boylan on 30,637, sitting Independent MEP Clare Daly on 26,855, and PBP's Bríd Smith on 21,577.
After a slight delay, the recount in the Tralee LEA has just begun. It is hoped that the result for this seven-seater will be confirmed around lunchtime.
To Meath now where Fine Gael has taken its sixth seat on Meath County Council. In the last few minutes, Paddy Meade joined his party colleague Sharon Tolan as a council representative from the Laytown-Bettystown LEA.
The first count in the Limerick mayoral race is expected at lunchtime, the returning officer the the count centre at Limerick racecourse has said.
Back to Limerick now where counting has just begun in the Treaty County's historic mayoral election.
Special Correspondent Mick Clifford previously looked at all the runners and riders, so here's a recap of who is in the race to become the directly elected Mayor of Limerick:
At the Nemo GAA club complex in Cork, counting of the votes for the Ireland South EU parliament constituency has resumed.
For all of the latest developments there, check out our Election 2024 - Cork live blog:
A full recount of votes in Dublin's Blackrock LEA will start this morning after Independent Cormac Lucey came in just two votes behind Fine Gael newcomer Dan Carson for the sixth and final seat there.
Vote counting for the Ballina LEA, which has not yet elected any councillors, is beginning within the next few minutes.
Looking to catch up on the election? Here are some reads we would recommend to get you up to speed:
- Mick Clifford: Election results suggest nobody knows exactly what they want;
Emer Walsh: Who knew covering a count centre could be such an emotional affair?
- Terry Prone: Sinn Féin became boring and predictable, and voters responded accordingly;
- Fianna Fáil retains its position as the largest party on Cork City Council
Unsurprisingly, the elections make the lead on the front page of today's
Our political staff write that Taoiseach Simon Harris is coming under renewed pressure to call an early general election after the Government vote held strong at both local and European level:
With local council seats now almost full, attention will turn to the European election setas.
14 MEPs will be elected over the coming days but counting has been slow so far.
Dublin is the only constituency to have completed a count, where incumbent MEP Barry Andrews topped the poll, with 62,147 votes.
The Fianna Fáil representative was followed closely by Fine Gael Senator Regina Doherty with 61,344 first preference votes. No one reached the quota of 75,345.
First counts in Ireland South and Midlands-North-West are expected today.
You can follow live European election results at our live hub.
After more than 23 hours of counting, all of the seats of the seats in Co Louth have now been filled.
Seven of the county’s 29 seats are held by those classified as Independent or other, compared to the six who claimed seats five years ago.
While Sinn Féin has been disappointed in many counts across the State, the party proved popular in Louth taking seven seats, the same number it attained in the last election.
All the seats in Limerick's LEAs have now been filled.
Of the 40 seats available across Adare-Rathkeale, Cappamore-Kilmallock, Limerick City East, Limerick City North, Limerick City West, and Newcastle West, 12 went to Fine Gael, 11 went to Fianna Fáil, 5 went to Independent candidates, three went to Sinn Féin, three also went to Labour, 2 apiece went to candidates from the Social Democrats and Independent Ireland, and the final two seats went to Aontú and the Greens.
Four elected councillors – Daniel Butler (FG), Frankie Daly (NP), Elisa O’Donovan (SD), and Conor Sheehan (Lab) – are also in the running for in the Limerick mayoral race.
Two recounts are to take place on Monday in the Kerry LEAs of Tralee and Kenmare. Late last night, just seven votes separated Fianna Fáil's Anne O'Sullivan and Independent candidate Thomas McEllistrim, who requested the recount.
In the European parliamentary elections, Far-right party gains thus far have been such that they dealt stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
While most count centres closed for the night between 10pm and 11pm, some kept going into this morning.
To begin, let's recap some overnight developments:
• In Cork, all seats on the city council have been filled. History was made with the election of the city's first black city councillor - the Green Party’s Honore Kamegni.
• All seats on Cork County Council have also been filled, however a recount in Cobh is expected to take place today. Follow all the developments from Cork at our dedicated live blog:
• Full recounts have also been ordered in the Letterkenny electoral area in Donegal and in Boyle in Co Roscommon. Both are expected to get underway at around midday today.
• In Sligo, voters bucked the national trend by electing two fewer Fine Gael councillors, while Labour will have a Sligo councillor for the first time in a decade.
• After a marathon count of more than 40 hours, all of the seats in Athlone were filled shortly before 4am. Former Independent candidate Domnick Connolly garnered 1,116 votes and was elected for Fine Gael without reaching the quota on the 9th count.
In Cavan, count eight in Bailieborough Cootehill sees three candidates elected without meeting the quota: Fianna Fáil's Clifford Kelly, Fine Gael's Val Smith, and Fianna Fáil's Niall Smith.
Sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Aiden Fitzpatrick has lost his seat at the expense of running mate Niall Smith - cousin of Deputy Niamh Smyth.
Counting in Cavan has concluded with all 18 seats filled. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have six each; Sinn Féin has three; and one each for Aontú, Independent Ireland and a non party candidate.
The big story here is Sinn Féin gained two seats at the expense of the two main parties.
Looking to Sligo and two Fine Gael candidates Gerard Mullaney and Dara Mulvey have been elected on the tenth count in Ballymote Tubbercurry while in Sligo Drumcliff Independent Marie Casserly and Sinn Féin's Thomas Healy have been elected on the third count.
Sinn Féin’s Tom Barry and Fianna Fáil’s Jimmy Moloney have been re-elected to Kerry County Council.
They were the final two candidates to be confirmed in the Listowel LEA after 1am on Monday at the Tralee count centre.
In Killarney, a full Kenmare recount will be taking place from 9am while Killarney counting is ongoing.
The Wexford LEA has been completed at St Joseph's in the early hours of Monday. Labour's Catherine Biddy Walsh wins a second seat for the party in Wexford, while Raymond Shannon has won another seat for Verona Murphy's Wexford Independent Alliance.
That's it for this evening from Wexford but there are three full recounts coming in the morning. It ain't over here yet by a long way!
On the 12th count in Tralee, Sinn Féin’s Paul Daly with 1,935 votes and independent Sam Locke with 1,725 votes both exceeded the quota of 1,688.
The next count will be the transfer of Mr Daly’s surplus of 247 votes.
Just before 1am, all of the seats in the Roscommon LEA have now filled.
Fine Gael first time candidate Gareth Scahill was elected to the fifth seat on 1,625, followed by Fianna Fáil candidate 1,393.
The quota was 1,491, meaning Mr Brennan was elected without reaching the quota.
Returning officer, Caitlin Conneely announced the results to the expectant crowd.
This means that FF has retained its three seats in the Roscommon Municipal District.
More from Dublin.
Fine Gael’s Jacqueline Burke was elected on the ninth count in Killiney-Shankill but counting of her surplus has been suspended until the morning.
In Dundrum, Independent Cllr Anne Colgan beat her Aontú challenger Liam Coughlan for the last seat, and was elected on the 11th count without reaching the quota.
Mr Coughlan was the party’s last remaining candidate of three in the local elections in this council.
There had been some optimism in Aontú that Máiréad Tóibín, sister of party leader Peadar Tóibín might make a breakthrough in Dun Laoghaire LEA but she went out on the eighth count.
Fianna Fáil’s Michael Leane has been elected in Listowel having reached the quota of 2,095 on the eighth count with 2,213 votes.
In this LEA he joins Fine Gael councillor Mike Kennelly who topped the poll with 2,301 first preference votes, exceeding the quota of 2,095.
Liam ‘Speedy’ Nolan, an independent backed by the Healy-Raes, secured his seat with 2,223 votes on the first count also.
Fine Gael’s Michael Foley was elected in Listowel with 2,131 votes on the second count.
Counts are now underway to fill the final two seats in Listowel.
After a long night, counts are also still ongoing to fill all seven seats in the Tralee LEA.
Fianna Fáil’s Mikey Sheehy topped the poll in Tralee, while the Labour Party’s Terry O’Brien was also re-elected on the third count.
Sinn Féin’s Deirdre Ferris also secured her seat in Tralee, exceeding the quota on the fifth count.
In South Dublin, People Before Profit's Darragh Adelaide, Independent Ireland's Linda De Courcy, Fianna Fáil's Trevor Gilligan, Social Democrats' Eoin Ó Broin and Fine Gael's Shirley O'Hara were all elected for Clondalkin on the 15th count.
While in Fingal, Aontú took a second seat as Gerard Sheehan won in Ongar. Fine Gael's Kieran Dennison and Fianna Fáil's Tom Kitt were also elected on the 11th count.
In Cavan, newcomer Stiofán Conaty takes the third seat in Bailieborough Cootehill for Sinn Féin. His surplus of 120 votes will now be redistributed in the eighth count.
Sinn Féin have now tripled their standing on Cavan County Council to win three seats - one in each LEA.
- Catch up on all of Sunday's events here