Election 2024 in Cork - Day one and two counts as they happened
Plex Rangers Nemo Gaa Place Takes Cork At Dan Linehan Counting Picture: In
Saturday and Sunday saw thousands of votes counted and a new Cork City Council elected.
You can recap the events of the weekend below. For live coverage of a recount in the Cobh LEA and on the Ireland South European elections, follow our live blog.
In East Cork, there are four candidates still in the race to win three seats as votes from Aontú’s Mona Stromsoe are being distributed, with the council likely to have three or four new faces.
Independent Mary Linehan Foley and Fine Gael’s Michael Hegarty topped the poll, reaching the quota of 2,026 on the first count.
They will be joined by their fellow incumbent councillor Liam Quaide of the Social Democrats and newcomer Patrick Mulcahy of Fianna Fáil, both of whom were elected tonight at the 9th and 11th counts.
The fourth sitting councillor who sought re-election, Fianna Fáil's Ann Marie Ahern is currently on 1,328 seats and it will be tight between herself and Fine Gael’s Alison Curtin, currently on 1,346 and waiting to see which way unpredictable Aontu transfer votes go after Stromsoe’s elimination.
Fine Gael is likely to see at least one of veteran Hegarty’s first-time running mates elected, with Rory Cocking on 1,771 votes.
Independent John Buckley, on 1,546, is likely to take the sixth seat, leaving Ahern and Curtin to battle it out, with the election of Cocking possibly swinging the tide in Curtin’s favour as she could stand to gain significant transfer votes from her party colleague.
Fine Gael Cllr Deirdre Forde and Sinn Féin Cllr Orla O'Leary have lost their seats on Cork City Council as the Labour Party took a second seat through Peter Horgan in the city's south east local electoral area (LEA).
Ms Forde and Ms O'Leary have both been eliminated in their respective wards within the last half an hour.
Labour is expected to win a third seat later, through Laura Harmon in the south west LEA.
History has been made in Cork tonight with the election of the city's first black city councillor.
The Green Party’s Honore Kamegni was deemed elected in the city's south east local electoral area on the 12th count.
Mr Kamegni, 46, a manager with An Post in Little Island, who arrived in Ireland from Cameroon in 2002, moved to Cork in 2006, and became an Irish citizen in 2013, celebrated his election with his trademark cry: "Up the Green Party".
He said despite being targeted by significant racist abuse on social media, the people he met on the campaign trail were always supportive.
“They wanted to see change, they wanted to see new faces, new ideas and new energy,” he said.
The sustained racist online abuse began to ramp up earlier this year.
He said: “I was not used to this kind of reaction from people. When I first started getting it, I thought ‘my God - what is happening?’
“I have been canvassing for 14 months. I have covered every corner of my ward, from the rural to the city.
“I have never spoken to any residents on the doorstep who was hostile to me. That doesn’t happen. Any kind of hostility and hatred was happening online.
“My message to those people today is the result – the response I’m getting from the election shows that people are rejecting their message.”
Fianna Fáil’s Mary Rose Desmond has been re-elected on the 12th count to the Cork City South East LEA having surpassed the quota.
Labour’s Peter Horgan and Fine Gael’s Des Cahill have also been elected on the 12th count.
The South East LEA is the third LEA to be filled.
Elsewhere, Fine Gael’s Joe Kavanagh and Fianna Fáil’s Margaret McDonnell have been elected to the Cork City North East ward, having surpassed the quota on the 9th count.
Social Democrats candidate Padraig Rice has made history this evening by becoming the party's first candidate to win a seat on Cork City Council.
He was elected on the 10th count in the city's south-central local electoral area.
In the same area, Green Party Cllr Dan Boyle, Independent Cllr Paudie Dineen and Sinn Féin Cllr Fiona Kerins all retained their seats without reaching the quota.
10.28pm
Isobel Towse is the second Social Democrat elected in West Cork on the tenth and final count in the Skibbereen Local Electoral Area.
Also elected were Independent Ireland's Daniel Sexton and Fianna Fáil's Deirdre Kelly.
And that’s it from West Cork!
Speaking at the Ireland South Count Centre at Nemo Rangers GAA Club, Cork Fine Gael Director of Elections, Simon Coveney ruled out the government going to the country early on foot of the successes of both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in both the locals and the Europeans.
“Look the government’s position as far as I know because, obviously I’m not in the government any more but I speak to the ministers all the time and Simon and our position is that we want to serve a full time and we have a lot of work to do," said Mr Coveney.
“And I think we will have another strong budget – personally I think this government has been at its strongest every year at budget time and it’s the one time of the year when the opposition parties are forced to cost their proposals as opposed to what Sinn Féin normally do which is to call for billions of euros a week to be spent – they actually have to cost for what they are asking for and I think that’s an advantage for the government.”
Fianna Fáil's Nelius Cotter on 2,030 votes and Independent Peter O’Donoghue on 1,784 votes have taken the final two seats in Fermoy despite falling short of the 2,358 quota.
They were elected on the ninth count.
A recount was almost called by Labour whose candidate, Diarmuid Hanley was just 42 votes behind Mr O’Donoghue on 1,742 but the party then conceded.
Sinn Féin Cllr Ken Collins and Sinn Féin candidate Michelle Gould have been elected in Cork North West.
Solidarity Cllr Brian McCarthy also held his seat here, beating Irish People party candidate Ross Lahive, for the sixth and final seat by 190 votes.
The north west LEA has become the first LEA in the city to fill all of its seats.
The final two seats have been filled in the Bantry West Cork LEA.
On the eighth count Fianna Fáil’s Patrick Gerard Murphy and Fine Gael’s Caroline Cronin were elected.
This completes the counting for the four-seat LEA.
Cork City Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy has been re-elected. He follows Fianna Fáil's Terry Shannon in taking the second seat in the Cork City south east LEA.
In the Cork South LEA, Fine Gael Cllr Garret Kelleher has been re-elected. He was deemed elected on the 10th count, with 2,373 votes. His surplus is now being distributed.
His LEA colleague, Fianna Fáil Cllr Colm Kelleher, a former Lord Mayor of Cork, has also been re-elected on the 10th count with 2,174 votes.
The Tánaiste has been asked about the Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin going into power after the next general election. Paul Hosford fills us in from Nemo:
Micheál Martin has said that the weekend's results show that "opinion polls should not be treated as gospel".
Mr Martin said that polls had consistently shown Fianna Fáil in third place, but that the party was on course to be the largest party in local government.
He said that he did not foresee the Sinn Féin "collapse" but said that it showed that the idea of Sinn Féin in government was no longer a foregone conclusion.
However, Mr Martin said that the positive showing of government parties did not necessarily mean that a general election should be called. He said that a Budget should be passed and that it "cannot just be about electioneering".
"At the last Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, all I was asked was 'will you go into government with Sinn Féin' as if they were automatically going to be elected.
"So the lesson for everyone is to stop the presumptive narrative on the basis of an internet panel poll which has flaws. Don't give a rating to polling above and beyond everything. They're coming fast and furious but they're not really reflective of what's going on the ground.
"You cannot draw any conclusions from the local elections in respect of a general election. And we know that from experience and I certainly will not be making that error. A general election is a clean sheet and is a different perspective, they're different elections by far, and there will be a different dynamic at play."
Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent has lost his seat in the Cork City north west local electoral area.
He has been excluded on the ninth count with 908 votes, following the distribution of Green candidate Louise Jordan's votes.
It is the second election in which he has failed to retain his seat. He was co-opted onto the last council following the election to the Dáil of former councillor, Thomas Gould.
Solidarity councillor Brian McCarthy picked up 236 votes bringing him to 1,291, leapfrogging The Irish People candidate Ross Lahive, who is on 1,130 votes.
They are both fighting for the final seat.
Meanwhile in Cork county, Social Democrats councillor Liam Quaide has been elected to the Midleton LEA on the 11th count, the third person to get elected in the seven seater constituency.
More results in the county council race. Fianna Fáil's Deirdre O'Brien has been re-elected to the Fermoy LEA on the eighth count. The sitting councillor is the fourth person to be elected to the area with two seats left to fill.
Meanwhile in Cobh, Fianna Fáil’s Dominic Finn has just beaten the Green Party’s Cliona O’Halloran to the final seat. There were seven votes in it in the eleventh count, so a recount may be incoming.
Seán Martin, brother of Tánaiste Micheál Martin, has been elected in the Cork City South Central LEA. The sitting councillor was re-elected on the seventh count. He joins Fergal Dennehy and Terry Shannon, all of whom have been re-elected since 6pm.
Some results from the West Cork count centre in Clonakilty.
Fine Gael candidate John Michael Foley has been elected in the Bandon Kinsale LEA on the sixth count. Mr Foley exceeded the quota of 2,379 with a vote of 2,527.
Meanwhile, Independent candidate Finbarr Harrington has been elected in the Bantry LEA on count number seven.
Mr Harrington famously lost a recount in 2019 buy a single vote to Holly Cairns who went on to become the leader of the Social Democrats. There were no such problems this time out for the Beara Peninsula based campaigner who came second in the first count with 1,870 votes.
After eight counts, we have a result in the Cork City South East LEA. Fianna Fáil councillor Terry Shannon has been re-elected. Meanwhile, Fergal Dennehy has been re-elected to the city council in the south west ward.
Meanwhile, at County Hall, two more people have been elected to the Cobh LEA after the 10th count. Ger Curley of Independent Ireland and sitting Labour councillor Cathal Rasmussen have been been elected to the county council.
Back to Nemo and the European elections. Ireland South MEP Grace O'Sullivan says she feels her chance at retaining her seat is "slipping away".
The Green Party MEP said she would "like to be further ahead", but accepted that she faces a fight to retain the seat she won in 2019. Following that year's Green Wave which saw the party take two European and nearly 50 council seats, people's priorities had shifted from the climate.
"We had a great year in 2019, we were on the Green Wave that was that climate campaign and, now, things have shifted in people's minds. I've come up here to Cork and I'm getting the sense that the tide is going out in a way."
Ms O'Sullivan said that she was "proud" of the work she has done, but added that there were "shifting sands" electorally. She said that she was "extremely disappointed" in the Greens' overall performance in the south, where she said "many good councillors" would lose seats.
Far-right candidate Derek Blighe has been eliminated on the sixth count for Fermoy LEA. Three seats have been filled in the six-seat constituency so far.
No one was elected on the sixth count but Nelius Cotter (Fianna Fáil) is the front-runner to take the next seat on 1,607 votes.
Kay Dawson (Fine Gael) is on 1,297; Diarmuid Hanley (Labour) is on 1,289; and Peter O'Donoghue (Independent) is on 1,281.
More completed counts in County Hall. After seven counts, the final results were declared in Macroom and Carrigaline within minutes of each other.
For Macroom , the election of Ted Lucey of Fine Gael in fifth place and Martin Coughlan in the final seat completed the return of the entire slate of outgoing councillors while, in Carrigaline, the election of Sinn Féin’s Eoghan Fahy, taking the seat previously held by Marcia D’Alton, meant there was one new face representing the district on the benches of Cork County Council.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic, one of the best days of my life – other than my son being born, today is one of the best days I’ve ever had,” said Mr Fahy.
“It’s remarkable to have a Sinn Féin councillor back in the area, it’s well needed and I’m very proud of my team,” he said.
Paul Hosford has another update on the Ireland South European election count in Nemo.
Returning Officer Martin Harvey there is unlikely to be a count today.
Mr Harvey said that the count could go on until Wednesday morning, with staff making their way through the hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in the 10 county constituency.
He said the centre has 220 staff counting and at this time it was impossible to say if any candidate might request a recount. Asked what it might take for there to be a count tonight, Mr Harvey replied: "A miracle".
He said that a "pragmatic decision" will be made around 9pm this evening.
We have another full LEA in Cork county! Fianna Fáil's Pat Hayes has been elected, taking the final seat in Mallow.
Tony O'Shea (Fine Gael), Eoghan Kenny (Labour), Liam Madden (Fianna Gael) and Gearóid Murphy (Fianna Fáil) are the others who have been elected in Mallow.
From the count centre in Mallow - Ireland First’s Derek Blighe may be eliminated on Fermoy's sixth count.
No one was elected on Fermoy's fifth count and three seats are left to fill in the six seat constituency.
Nelius Cotter (Fianna Fáil) is the frontrunner for the next seat on 1,548 votes.
Kay Dawson (Fine Gael) is on 1,254 votes; Peter O’Donoghue (Independent) is on 1,192 votes and Diarmuid Hanley (Labour) is on 1,125 votes.
Mr Blighe, on 1,070, gained 69 transfers from outgoing Independent Cllr Frank Roche who was eliminated in the previous round.
Ken O'Flynn won the highest vote in Cork City late last night. He said the result proves that his “common sense politics” approach has resonated with voters.
Our reporter Eoin English has more here.
Back to the city council now and Green Party councillor Colette Finn has lost her seat.
Ms Finn, the deputy lord mayor, lost her seat on the sixth count in the Cork City south west local electoral area. Ms Finn, who was first elected to council in 2019, was a prominent member of the council's Women's Caucus which was set up to encourage more women into politics.
It’s getting close to crunch time in Carrigaline as Una McCarthy was returned to fill the penultimate seat in the municipality following the sixth count, leaving one remaining to be filled and only one candidate likely to take the vacancy.
The 522 votes of John O’Regan were distributed, giving the Fine Gael councillor 144 votes which put her over the quota of 2,057 votes. This leaves Eoghan Fahy of Sinn Féin in a commanding position to take the final seat
Results are coming thick and fast in Cork now.
Sitting councillor Sinead Sheppard has retained her seat in Cobh. The former member of pop band Six was elected on the seventh count.
She is the third councillor to be elected, alongside her party and ward colleague Anthony Barry and Fianna Fail's Sheila O'Callaghan, who both met the 2,026 quota on the first count.
Fianna Fáil's Gearóid Murphy has been elected on the sixth count to Mallow LEA.
There is just one more seat to fill in Mallow and his Fianna Fáil running mate Pat Hayes looks likely to take that seat.
"It's really humbling to have the trust placed in me by the electorate for another five years," Mr Murphy said.
"I want to thank all my canvassers, all my supporters and everyone who voted for me. I'm really looking forward to continuing to work for Mallow and for north Cork for the next five years."
We have our first Cork City Council result of the day. Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan has retained his seat after being re-elected on the fourth count in the North West LEA.
The Blackpool-based GP and former Lord Mayor, who was first elected to city council in 2014, is the first candidate to be deemed elected at the City Hall count centre today.
Six of the city council's 31 seats have now been filled.
The Social Democrats candidate Saoirse Mackin, Ireland's first openly transgender candidate, has now been eliminated.
European elections: What do you know about the Ireland South constituency ahead of the first count result? Paul Hosford is in Cork and has the answers.
Outgoing Mayor of County Cork Frank O’Flynn has been elected to the Fermoy LEA on the fourth count.
The Fianna Fáil councillor said he was delighted.
"The vote is beyond my wildest dreams because it's very competitive. There were 15 candidates. And being mayor, I have to attend a lot of events so it reduced the time I could give to canvassing. So I got tremendous support and a great welcome from the electorate."
Fellow sitting councillor Frank Roche, independent, has been eliminated on the fourth count.
Fine Gael’s Noel O’Donovan is the first candidate to be elected for the Skibbereen West Cork LEA. The former guard topped the poll on the first count and was elected on the fourth count, exceeding the quota of 2,531.
Mr O’Donovan said: “Today is the election but tomorrow is about starting work. Elections come and go but you’ve got to deliver for people and that’s what I want to do for there people of west Cork, deliver a progressive type of politics.”
Another seat filled on Cork County Council.
Fine Gael's Eileen Lynch has been elected in the Macroom electoral area on the fifth count.
Another result, this time from the count centre in Mallow.
Fianna Fáil's Ian Doyle has taken the final seat in the Kanturk LEA on the eighth count. Kanturk is the first electoral area in Cork county to fill all its seats.
Mr Doyle joins running mate Bernard Moynihan, who was the first candidate elected to Cork County Council, as well as Fine Gael's Trish Murphy and John Paul O'Shea.
You can see live results for Cork County Council here.
A European elections update — Political Correspondent Paul Hosford is in Nemo Rangers GAA complex where they are counting the votes for the Ireland South constituency.
He reports that counting is well underway, with early indications that two sitting MEPs — Fine Gael's Sean Kelly and Fianna Fáil's Billy Kelleher — will be elected in two of the seats.
Observers also noted the strong performance in Cork of independent Clare TD Michael McNamara, who had accrued over 17,000 votes in a tally of Clare yesterday. That may be enough to make him competitive for the third seat, with the final two seats up for grabs.
Some unofficial tallies around the Cork area noted lower than expected votes for the two Sinn Féin candidates - Carlow-Kilkenny TD Kathleen Funchion and senator Paul Gavan - but both could be in the race come the later counts along with Fine Gael's John Mullins, independent MEP Mick Wallace and Fianna Fáil's Cynthia Ní Mhurchú.
A first count is expected around midnight.
A result from County Hall!
Carrigaline Electoral Area elected its fourth of six councillors after the completion of the fourth count.
The outgoing chairperson of the area’s Municipal Council, Audrey Buckley of Fianna Fáil was deemed elected after transfers from the surplus of Jack White were distributed.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to work for Carrigaline,” Ms Buckley said. “I was just 67 votes short last night when the counting ended and it had been a long day but I’m glad now to be back.”
She said she was looking forward to taking some family time now before the Council convenes for its general meeting on June 21.
Next in the queue to get elected for the remaining seats are Una McCarthy of Fine Gael and Eoghan Fahy of Sinn Féin. If, as seems probable, Eoghan Fahy is elected, he is likely to be the sole representative on Cork County Council of the main party of opposition in the Dáil.
More results are due in across the afternoon. While we wait, Emer Walsh spoke to the oldest and youngest candidates in the Cork North East local electoral area.
Workers' Party candidate Ted Tynan said he has "no interest" in slowing down at 81, and is inspired by young people like Rachel Hurley, 21, coming into the party.
Read the full story here.
11.30am
The distribution of Ben Dalton O’Sullivan’s surplus has moved sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Audrey Buckley to the cusp of re-election to the Carrigaline electoral area after the third count result was announced in County Hall.
She is now just 27 votes short of the quota of 2,057. Una McCarthy of Fine Gael has inched closer to the quota and now stands on 1,754.
Sinn Féin’s Eoghan Fahy received 57 votes in that allocation and is on 1,659 votes, 95 behind Úna McCarthy.
In Cork City Hall, French citizens living in Ireland have begun voting on Sunday in the European elections.
Officials overseeing the Cork polling booth in City Hall have reported a steady turnout since voting began at 8am, with almost 100 votes cast already.
10.52am
And here's a recap from County Hall where counting has resumed on the remaining seats in the Macroom, Carrigaline, Cobh and East Cork electoral areas after a late finish earlier on Sunday morning.
Already elected in Macroom were Fianna Fáil’s Gobnait Moynihan and Michael Creed of Fine Gael on the first count while Michael Looney of Fianna Fáil picked up sufficient transfers to cross the line himself and be deemed elected on the second count which came at around 1.15am.
In Carrigaline, Seamus McGrath, the brother of Finance Minister Michael, romped to the top of the polls with 5,191 votes, well in excess of the quota of 2,057. Independent councillor Ben Dalton O’Sullivan was also elected on the first count.
There followed a long wait as the 3,000+ surplus of Seamus McGrath was counted and this led to the election of Jack White of Fine Gael, an indication that the two main Government parties were transferring to one another, a pattern which had not been so prevalent in previous elections.
The next operation in the Macroom count is the elimination of Aontú candidate Rosarie O’Leary and the redistribution of her 588 votes while in Carrigaline, the surplus of Ben Dalton O’Sullivan has to be distributed.
It will be midday at the earliest before we can expect further count announcements in County Hall.
Counting has now recommenced at Cork City Hall this morning with just five out of 31 seats of Cork City Council filled so far.
Here's a quick recap of what happened overnight:
Two out of six seats were filled in the North East LEA late last night, with Independent Ken O’Flynn and Labour’s John Maher both being re-elected on the first count having exceeded the quota of 1,984.
Mr O’Flynn topped the polls with a massive 3,134 votes — the highest vote in the city so far and more than 1,150 clear of the quota.
In the six-seater North West ward, Fine Gael’s Damian Boylan and Fianna Fáil’s Tony Fitzgerald were both re-elected on the first count shortly after 10.30 pm last night after surpassing the 1,753 quota.
Fine Gael’s Shane O’Callaghan retained his seat in the south central LEA, making him the only candidate elected on the first count in the six-seat ward after exceeding the quota by 342 votes.
All seats in the South East and South West LEA’s remain up for grabs, with no candidate surpassing the first preference quota.
10.10am
After the first count in the Cork East LEA, Independent candidate Mary Linehan Foley topped the poll and was elected with 2,962 votes. So too was Fine Gael's Michael Hegarty 2,116 votes.
Vote counting has just started at the Ireland South Constituency count centre in Cork.
It will be a long day at the Nemo Rangers GAA club, where more than 710,000 will be counted, and five MEP seats will be filled when all is said and done.
In the Bandon-Kinsale LEA, Independent candidate Alan Coleman and John Collins of Independent Ireland were elected following the first count.
Counting adjourned at around 3am and will resume at 10am.
At the conclusion of second count in Fermoy early this morning, two candidates had reached the quota of 2,358.
With six seats up for grabs, sitting Ind councillor William O'Leary and Fine Gael's Noel McCarthy were the first to be elected in the LEA.
Just shy of the quota were Fianna Fáil's Frank O'Flynn and Deirdre O'Brien on 2,264 and 1,932, respectively.
Trailing them was FG's Kay Dawson, Labour's Diarmuid Hanley, Independent candidate Peter O'Donoghue, and Derek Blighe of Ireland First.
The first count is now also complete in the Skibbereen West Cork LEA, where, in what is a very tight race, Fine Gael’s Noel O’Donovan topped the poll with 2,445 votes but did not make the quota of 2,531.
In second was Joe Carrol of Fianna Fáil with 1,783, followed by Fine Gael's Brendan McCarthy on 1,384, FF's Deirdre Kelly and Padraig O'Reilly on 1,344 and 1,199, respectively,Daniel Sexton of Independent Ireland on 1,277, and Isobel Towse on 1,249.
Mr O’Donovan said: “I’m really humbled by this vote today," Mr O'Donovan said.
"Elections come and go but you’ve got to deliver for people and that’s what I want to do for there people of west Cork, deliver a progressive type of politics.”
The first result is in from West Cork’s Bantry local electoral area and it’s Independent Ireland’s Danny Collins who topped the poll with 2,386 votes.
The Bantry publican and brother of party leader Michael Collins did not reach the quota of 2,460.
In second place was Beara-based Finbarr Harrington who lost out to Holly Cairns by a single vote in 2009.
Also polling strongly were Fine Gael’s Caroline Cronin with 1,696 votes and independent Helen O’Sullivan with 1,340 votes who was formerly of the Farmer’s Alliance party.
The valid poll was 12,295. The count has been adjourned to resume again at 10am.
All good things come to those who wait and two elections were announced at the Cork County Hall count centre at approximately 1.15am on Sunday morning as both Michael Looney, an outgoing Fianna Fáil councillor in Macroom, and Jack White, a sitting Fine Gael representative in Carrigaline were both deemed to be elected following the redistribution of the surpluses of first count winners in both areas.
Two sitting councillors were elected to Fermoy LEA after midnight surpassing the quota of 2,358 votes on the first round.
William O’Leary, who left Fianna Fáil earlier this year and is running as an independent, topped the poll in Fermoy with 2,920 votes.
He has campaigned against a direct provision centre in the town and previously said that “people who buy buildings and rent them as refugee accommodation are “worse than the English landlords of decades ago” and “as bad as any drug cartel".
But he said that fighting the direct provision centre and being associated with an arguably anti-immigrant stance was not what boosted his vote in the elections.
“I’m being unfairly labelled [as anti-immigrant]. From the first thing in the morning to the time I go to bed at night I help people. That’s what hopefully got me elected rather than any one issue.
“I’ll work night and day, as I’ve always done, going forward. I think politicians get elected on their work ethic, on doing the right things.”
Contesting the general election is “not in my mind tonight,” he said.
Fine Gael’s Noel McCarthy was also elected on the first count with 2,624 votes in the six seat constituency.
The total electorate was 31,544 with 16,655 votes cast. Of these, 154 were spoiled ballots and 16,501 were valid.
Independent councillor Frank Roche looks unlikely to retain his seat in Fermoy with 628 votes at the end of the first count.
“I never turned off my phone for five years, day or night,” he said.“Anyone who came to me I did everything I could for them.
"And I’m absolutely disgusted to think that they didn’t show me a bit of respect today. I’m disgusted. I could lose my home and all over this.” Mr Roche said that he does not think he will contest another election.
Independent councillor Ken O'Flynn has topped the poll in the Cork North East LEA with a massive 3,134 votes - the highest vote in the city so far and more than 1,150 clear of the quota.
Labour councillor John Maher has also been elected on the first count with 2,005 votes - 21 votes above the quota.
Counting in the LEA has been suspended, with the Mr O'Flynn's 1,150 surplus set to be distributed in the morning when counting resumes.
Counting continues in two LEAs - the south west and south east.
Meanwhile, the announcement of the First Count results for the Macroom Municipal District elections was announce at around 11.30pm.
Outgoing councillors, Gobnait Moynihan of Fianna Fáil and Michael Creed of Fine Gael, were returned with first preference totals of 2794 and 2593 respectively, both exceeding the quota of 2,542 votes.
“It wasn’t a tough campaign at all,” said Michael Creed.
Astute vote management enabled Fine Gael to garner enough votes to get Michael Creed over the line and pave the way for his two running mates, Eileen Lynch and Ted Lucey, to follow him back to the Council.
“We divided the area into three patches, everyone kept to the divide and our aim from the start was to get three Fine Gael councillors elected and we went out with that intention so I’m absolutely delighted that it worked.”
The intention of the count officials is to distribute the surpluses of both the elected councillors.
After what seemed the longest wait, the re-election of Seamus McGrath, brother of Finance Minister Michael, with the highest first preference vote in the country, 5,191 votes, was greeted with a tired round of applause.
The Fianna Fáil candidate in the Carrigaline Municipal District was joined in the winner’s enclosure by fellow councillor, Ben Dalton O’Sullivan whose no poster campaign netted him 2,315 first preferences. The quota for Carrigaline was 2057.
Both were delighted to retain their seats on Cork County Council.
Fine Gael Cllr Shane O’Callaghan has retained his seat in the south central local electoral area, topping the poll with 1,870 votes, 342 votes above the quota.
Counting in the LEA has been suspended for the evening, and will resume in the morning.
Mr McGrath, who was leader of the Fianna Fáil contingent on the outgoing council, made no mention of his 3,000 vote surplus as he thanked the voters of Carrigaline for returning him to the Council chamber.
“It’s been a long day,” he said. “I’m genuinely humbled by the support I’ve received and I obviously want to thank whoever supported me for putting their trust in me once again.”
For Ben Dalton O’Sullivan, it was no less of a triumph.
“I ran a no-poster campaign and I’m really delighted with the result - I didn’t expect it but I’m really delighted to be returning to Cork County Council to work for the people of Carrigaline once again.” The next operation will be the distribution of the surplus of Seamus McGrath.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael's John Paul O'Shea has been elected to the Kanturk LEA on the second count in Mallow with a surplus of 171 votes.
The first two councillors have been elected to Cork City Council.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Tony Fitzgerald has retained his seat in the city’s six seater north west local electoral area (LEA), topping the poll on the first count with 1,930 votes, 177 votes above the quota.
Fine Gael Cllr Damian Boylan has also retained his seat in the same ward, with 1,872 votes.
Counting in the LEA has been suspended until tomorrow. Counting in the other four LEAs is continuing.
Some joy for the Government in Cork tonight with another four seats won by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
The first count in Cork City North saw Fine Gael's Damian Boylan and Fianna Fáil's Tony Fitzgerald both retain their seats.
Fine Gael's Tony O'Shea topped the poll in Mallow with 2,615 votes on the first count, surpassing the quota of 1,958.
Mr O'Shea, who was the last to be elected in the previous local election said coming first this time was "a wonderful achievement."
"I'm delighted. I've come a long way. Five years ago I got the last seat. I worked hard and engaged with a lot of people over the past five years."
But he said he'd "have to think" about running in the general elections due to constituency changes with Mallow moving to Cork north central while he lives in Cork north west.
Two other councillors were also elected on the first count - Fine Gael running mate Liam Madden on 2,571 and Labour's Eoghan Kenny with 2,239 votes in his first election.
Out of a total electorate of 23,585, 11,852 people cast ballots. Of those, 11,747 were valid votes and 105 were invalid.
Fianna Fáil's Bernard Moynihan is the first elected to Cork County Council on the first count with 3,030 votes, surpassing the quota of 2,284.
John Paul O'Shea of Fine Gael is on 2,185 votes at the first count, followed closely by first time candidate for Fine Gael Trish Murphy on 2,037. Ms Murphy contested her father Gerard Murphy's seat after he died earlier this year.
Fianna Fáil's Ian Doyle is on 1,200 votes after the first count followed by Beck Kealy of Aontú on 953.
Evelyn O'Keefe of Sinn Féin is on 536 after the first count and Social Democrat Andrew Ring is on 416.
The four seat constituency had 11,522 ballots cast out of a total electorate of 21,479. There were 104 invalid ballot papers.
Kanturk poll topper Bernard Moynihan said: “I’m delighted. I have a huge team of canvassers, a huge campaign team here.
“We have a project coming forward to build places for disability [services] between Kanturk and Newmarket.
“I’m delighted the people of Duhallow have stood behind me to allow me to continue my work."
He said that despite topping the poll in two consecutive local elections he would “definitely not” contest the general election.
6.34pm
David Forsythe reports from the West Cork count centre. Ballots have finally arrived in Clonakilty.
With ballots only arriving in Clonakilty, Galway's Connemara North became the first LEA to fill all seats.
As counting is underway in County Hall for Cobh ballots, an early tally for the area sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Sheila O’Callaghan will top the poll, with 17% of the vote based on 66% of the boxes.
Sitting councillors Anthony Barry of Fine Gael, Cathal Rasmussen of Labour and Sinead Sheppard also look likely to retain their council seats with 14%, 12% and 12% respectively.
Independent Ireland’s Ger Curley is the current favourite to win one of the remaining two seats with 10% of the vote, while Dominic Finn of Fianna Fáil has 7% of the vote and is likely to do well with transfers from O’Callaghan if the early tallies prove true and she tops the poll.
Cliona O’Halloran of the Green Party has 6% of the vote, Medhi Ozcinar of Sinn Féin and Keith Kelly of Fine Gael have 5%, People Before Profit’s Rola Abu Zeid-O'Neill, the only party candidate in Cork county, has 4%.
Diarmaid Ó Cadhla from new party Glór-Voice of the People has 4% of the vote also, while Independent Peter Kidney has 3%.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail TD for Cork North West Michael Moynihan said Ireland came “within a hair’s breath of anarchy” but was saved by an electorate voting for “sensible, centre ground politics” in the local elections.
The generally poor return for anti-immigrant, far-right candidates was a reflection of the “decent, honourable” people of Ireland who want the best for their communities turning out to vote, Mr Moynihan said at the local election count in Mallow youth centre.
5.10pm
Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has hailed the party's local election performance as being far better than predicted during a visit to the Cork City Hall count centre.
“Fianna Fáil will be a major competitive force in local authority government for the next five years contrary to what many commentators and people were predicting for a long time,” he said.
Stressing that his comments are based on tallies only, he said: “The idea that Fianna Fáil would be coming in a distant third is completely disproven.
“I have been looking at opinion polls for the last three years, internet panel polling having Fianna Fáil at 14% and 15%. Clearly Fianna Fáil will be well ahead of that, at 20% by the time all of these counts are collated.
“We put up a very robust performance and we’re holding our own compared to our performance in the general election in 2020.
“We have had a great result so far here in Cork, it seems from the tallies, although an awful lot will be determined by the transfers and by the later counts.” The party is in contention for an additional seat in the Cork City south west local electoral area.
He said he was particularly heartened by the number of young candidates coming through and said it places the party well for a general election.
But he said he still favours the government going full term, with a general election early next year rather than after the budget this year.
He paid tribute to all of the party’s outgoing councillors, and said they had put up a resilient performance. And he paid tribute to Minister of State Jack Chambers, the party’s director of elections, for the work he had put in.
An early tally for East Cork suggests that at least three of the four incumbent candidates will retain their seats.
With 34.8% of the boxes open, Independent Mary Linehan Foley is in the lead with 26.7% of votes followed by Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty on 13.8%.
Close behind him is new Fianna Fáil candidate Patrick Mulcahy on 13.2%, with Social Democrat Liam Quaide on 10.3%. He is likely to retain the seat he won in 2019 as a member of the Green Party.
Fine Gael’s Rory Cocking (8.1%) and Alison Curtin (6.7%) make up the remainder of the top six, but are closely followed by sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Anne Marie Aherne (6.6%), according to the early tally.
In County Hall, tallies from the Macroom Municipal District indicate that it will be a fight for the last of six seats between the incumbent independent councillor Martin Coughlan and Dermot Kelleher, the first time candidate for Independent Ireland.
Five sitting councillors – Michael Creed, Ted Lucey and Eileen Lynch of Fine Gael as well as Michael Looney and Gobnait Moynihan of Fianna Fáil – look to be well set to retain their seats.
Counting is officially underway at Cork City Hall!
Final tallies suggest Fine Gael is at risk of losing two seats on Cork City Council, with Labour in the hunt for two seats and the Social Democrats poised to make a breakthrough.
The government party may lose one of the two seats it held in the south west local electoral area (LEA), where veteran Fine Gael Cllr Derry Canty has retired, while party insiders are concerned that Cllr Deirde Forde is in trouble in the south east LEA.
Labour, which is represented on council by Cllr John Maher, is in the hunt for two additional seats, with candidate Peter Horgan in the south east LEA and Laura Harmon in the south west LEA both in contention, while Social Democrats candidate Padraig Rice is in with a shout in the south central LEA.
Rabharta Cllr Lorna Bogue could also be in trouble, the tallies suggest.
Several observers have also expressed surprise at Independent Cllr Ken O’Fynn’s impressive vote in the north east LEA, with final tallies showing him set to top the poll with just over 22.5% of the vote.
One observer said that would put him in contention for a Dáil seat in Cork North Central.
Returning officer Paul Moynihan said there are positive indications that voter turnout has been maintained at previous levels, with 15,000 new voter registrations recorded in Cork city in recent weeks.
Anti-migrant agitator Derek Blighe looks unlikely to be elected in Fermoy's six seat constituency on just 5% of the vote after 98% of boxes had been tallied.
Independent William O’Leary (18%), Fine Gael’s Noel McCarthy (16%), Fianna Fáil’s Frank O’Flynn (13%), Deirdre O’Brien (11%) and Nelius Cotter (7%), both also for Fianna Fáil look likely to be elected according to tallies.
Either Fine Gael’s Kay Dawson or Labour’s Diarmuid Hanley (both on 6%) look likely to take the final seat according to current tallies.
Liz Dunphy has another update on the Cork County Council election.
As 86% of boxes were tallied in Fermoy, with a turnout of 52%, 'other' candidates were leading at 34%, followed by Fianna Fáil at 31%. Fine Gael is at 23%, Labour at 6%, Sinn Féin at 5% and the Green Party on 1%.
In Mallow, after 85% of votes were tallied, Fine Gael was in the lead with 41% followed by Labour on 22% and Fianna Fáil on 21%.
Sinn Féin and ‘others’ were on 8% each and the Green Party was on 1%.
Topping the poll was Labour’s Eoghan Kenny on 22% followed by Fine Gael’s Liam Madden on 21%. Fine Gael’s Tony O’Shea was on 20%.
In Kanturk, Fine Gael, on 36.93%, was inching ahead of Fianna Fáil on 36.68% according to tallies. ‘Other’ candidates were on 11.52%, Sinn Féin was on 4.5%. The Green Party and Aontú were both on 1.27%.
An update on the Ireland South European constituency now, where ballots are being organised in Cork.
The early indications are that outgoing MEPs Billy Kelleher and Sean Kelly look set to retain their seats. This is based on an early analysis of some of the European ballots papers which were inspected in Cork this morning.
Thousands of European ballot papers were separated from the local election ballot papers at the Nemo Rangers count centre in Douglas across the morning, with the count in the European election due to begin on Sunday.
No official tally was conducted on the European papers in the massive Ireland South constituency which stretches from Bray in Wicklow to Dingle in Kerry but keen party observers said the ballots they saw suggested that Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher and Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly should retain their seats.
A total of 23 candidates are in the running for the five seats in a constituency where Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune has retired.
Early indications from the Cork count centre suggest that there will be a tight battle for the remaining three seats, with signs that Sinn Féin has polled strongly in Munster, putting them in place to regain a seat through either Kathleen Funchion or Paul Gavan.
Party sources said Ms Funchion’s vote is ahead of expectations, with transfers set to play a key role here.
Independent MEP Mick Wallace also looks set to retain his seat.
Independent Michael McNamara appears to have done well, with indications from the ballots seen in Cork suggesting that outgoing MEP Grace O'Sullivan of the Green Party is struggling.
Fine Gael candidate, John Mullins, appears to have done well in his Cork heartland but whether his vote holds up across the rest of the constituency remains to be seen.
Seamus McGrath, brother of Finance Minister Michael McGrath, is set to sweep to the top of the polls in Carrigaline, with tallies showing him receiving almost 5,000 first-preference votes.
The quota for the area is expected to be around 2,000 first-preferences, Mr McGrath’s 3,000 vote surplus is likely to pull his running mate – Audrey Buckley – over the line.
With current figures available, Mr McGrath could have the highest first-preference votes in the country for a local candidate.
Another update from Eoin English on the city council elections, where a first count result is not expected until teatime:
It looks like a dogfight in the Cork North West local electoral area (LEA) where anti-immigration and library protester Ross Lahive is in contention with two sitting councillors for the sixth and final seat, final tallies suggest.
With all 48 boxes tallied in this LEA, Lahive finished on 5.93%, tied with Solidarity Cllr Brian McCarthy, who are both just behind Sinn Fein Cllr Mick Nugent who is on 5.97%.
Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fitzgerald is on course to retain his seat and top the poll, with final tallies showing him on just over 15.5%. His running mate, John Sheehan, is on 12.9%, with the party performing strongly overall, with just over 28% of the vote.
Fine Gael councillor Damian Boylan is on course to retain his seat with 15.25%, with Sinn Féin councillor Ken Collins on 10.49%, followed by the party’s candidate, Michelle Gould on 9.18%.
Tallies suggest Sinn Féin will take about 25% of the vote here, followed by Fine Gael on just over 15%.
In the Cork North East LEA, where Independent councillor Ger Keohane has retired, final tallies show Independent councillor Ken O’Flynn set to top the poll with a very strong performance finishing with just over 22.5% of the vote.
Labour councillor John Maher is on 14.3%, with Fianna Fáil candidate Margaret McDonnell on course for a breakthrough with just shy of 10% of the vote.
Fine Gael councillor Joe Kavanagh is set to hold his seat with almost 9.8% of the vote, with Worker’s Party councillor Ted Tynan and Green Party councillor Oliver Moran on 6.5% and 6.26% respectively.
On the southside, Fine Gael's Deirdre Forde and Rabharta'S Lorna Bogue could be at risk of losing their seats in the south east LEA where Labour candidate Peter Horgan and Green candidate Honore Kamegni have performed well.
Ms Forde is on 7.4% of the vote, tied with Mr Horgan, and just behind Mr Kamegni who is on 7.5%. Ms Bogue is on 3.4%.
Fianna Fáil councillor Terry Shannon is on course to top the poll, followed by party colleague, Cllr Mary Rose Desmond, with Fine Gael’s Des Cahill and Independent councillor and outgoing Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy set to retain their seats.
In the south west LEA, Fianna Fáil has performed well with Cllr Fergal Dennehy and Colm Kelleher on course to take the first two seats, with a combined total of around 23% of the vote.
But Green Party councillor Colette Finn and Sinn Fein councillor Orla O’Leary are both at risk of losing their seats with 4.3% and 5.1% respectively.
Fine Gael councillor Garret Kelleher looks set to retain his seat, with just shy of 9% of the vote, with a strong performance from Labour candidate Laura Harmon on 8.1%, Independent candidate Albert Deasy on 7.4%, Fianna Fail candidate Terry Coleman on 6.9%, Sinn Fein candidate Joe Lynch on 6.1% and Social Democrats candidate Ciaran McCarthy on 5.8%.
In the south central LEA, Social Democrats candidate Padraig Rice is in with a shout of seat with just over 10% of the vote.
Cllr Shane O’Callaghan looks set to top the poll here with almost 18% of the vote, with Fianna Fáil's Sean Martin on course to retain his seat with almost 13%.
Green Party Cllr Dan Boyle, Independent Cllr Paudie Dineen, and Sinn Fein Cllr Fiona Kerins also look set to retain their seats. They are all hovering around 8%, with independent candidate Willliam O’Brien also in with a shout for the sixth and final seat.
The 230 ballot boxes from the 70 polling stations across the city’s will be taken from the Nemo Rangers sports complex in Douglas to City Hall where the count is set to begin after lunch.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are tied in first place in Kanturk on 33.3% of the tally, as of midday, according to our reporter Liz Dunphy.
‘Other’ candidates are on 8.9%. Sinn Féin is on 6.3% and Aontú is on 4.4%, while the Greens are on 1.1%.
Fianna Fail’s Bernard Moynihan is topping the tally on 26%, followed closely by first time candidate Trish Murphy for Fine Gael on 22%, whose late father, Fine Gael councillor Gerard Murphy, died earlier this year.
'Other' candidates are topping the poll in Fermoy, on 42% of the vote according to a tally after 45% of boxes were opened.
Fianna Fáil is in second place on 31% of the tally so far. Fine Gael is on 18%, Sinn Fein is on 5%, Labour is on 3%, the Green Party is on 1%.
Topping the poll at this stage with 25% is William O’Leary, formerly of Fianna Fáil but now running as an independent. He has strongly opposed a direct provision centre in Fermoy.
In Mallow, Fine Gael has 40% of the tally after 38% of boxes were opened.
Labour is in second place on 24% followed by Fianna Fáil on 20%.
Irish Party candidate Ross Lahive, who has been involved in anti-immigration and library protests, could be in with a shout of a seat in the Cork North West local electoral area (LEA), early tallies suggest.
With a third of the 43 ballot boxes in the LEA tallied, most of them city boxes, Lahvie is on just over 8% of the vote.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gould is on just over 14.4% followed by sitting Sinn Féin councillor Ken Collins on 13.43%.
The party is performing strongly at this stage with almost 33% of the vote, followed by Fianna Fáil on 20.62%.
Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fitzgerald is on 12.45% with People Before Profit councillor Brian McCarthy on 10.1%, followed by Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan.
9.30am
In Nemo, the ballots are being organised before counting takes place.
With the boxes open, the ballot papers for each election must first be separated out by count staff in centres across the nation — which is expected to take some hours — before they are officially counted.
The local government elections will be sorted and counted first, before the papers in the European are counted on Sunday.