Election 2024 — Counting complete as all 174 Dáil seats filled
At Count Cavan/monaghan Sorting The Vote Centre Lorraine Picture: Teevan
All 174 seats in the next Dáil have been filled following the election of Fianna Fáil's Niamh Smyth and Brendan Smith in .
Both TDs have been returned to the Dáil without reaching the quota in what was a marathon count.
It brings to an end over 60 hours of counting in the General Election 2024.
Fianna Fáil has emerged as the largest party, winning 48 seats, which is 10 more than Fine Gael.
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Sinn Féin took 39 seats, and Fine Gael followed closely with 38.
Labour and the Social Democrats both took 11 seats; People Before Profit-Solidarity took three; Aontú took two; and the Green Party retained only one of its 12 seats.
Independents and others took 21 seats.
First time Sinn Féin candidate Cathy Bennett has been elected on count 13 in .
That is two Sinn Féin TDs returned to the five-seater constituency.
Now three candidates remain to battle it out for the final two seats.
They're through the 12th count in, the only constituency still counting. Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy retains his seat and is elected.
The 47-year-old was elected on count 12 after picking up more than 4,000 transfers from running mate and former TD, Pauline Tully.
Mr Carthy’s votes totalled 15,140.
Four candidates remain in the race for three seats.
Mr Carthy’s other running mate, first-time candidate Cathy Bennett, is likely to be returned in the next count when she will benefit from his surplus of more than 3,500 votes.
Two Fianna Fáil incumbents, Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth, along with Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly, are the other three remaining candidates.
And then there was one!
Mick Barry has conceded in Cork meaning Labour's Eoghan Kenny has taken the last seat in Cork North Central and the counting in Louth has finished. It means that the only constituency left counting is Cavan-Monaghan.
Alan Kelly and Ryan O’Meara have been elected to .
The former Labour Party leader was elected after he passed the quota, while the 29-year-old Fianna Fáil newcomer was elected despite not reaching it.
However, by the end of the 10th count, he had the next highest number of votes after Mr Kelly and so won the third and final seat.
Mr Kelly repeatedly broke down in tears both before and after the result — which he had earlier dedicated to his father Tom who is seriously ill in hospital.
He struggled to compose himself as he was congratulated by well-wishers and by members of his family who were also in tears.
The count had been delayed by a call for a full recount last night after the ninth count but this was withdrawn earlier today.
Outgoing Sinn Féin TD Pauline Tully has lost her seat in the five-seater constituency on Monday afternoon.
The former teacher is the most high-profile casualty of the race so far, having served one term in office.
Fresh counting got underway at lunchtime at Cavan Leisure Centre.
Only one candidate has been elected, Fine Gael’s David Maxwell, when he became the first to exceed the 11,541 quota shortly after 4am on Monday.
Alan Kelly, who is expected to be elected today in Tipperary North after a full recount was called off, has said the Labour Party should not be scared of going into government, regardless of how many times smaller parties take a “hit” for working alongside bigger ones.
“I know the whole criticism about small parties getting hit when they go into government,” he said.
“But some party is going to change that someday, and I believe that should be us.
“I think we should be very firm on what we want, the red lines, and if they're not met, the government would fall. Simple as that."
And the count is complete in !
Sinn Féin's Réada Cronin has exceeded the quota of 9,505 on the 12th count Fianna Fáil's Naoise Ó Cearúil and Fine Gael's Joe Neville, who are set to becoming first-time TDs, have been elected without reaching the quota.
Bernard Durkan of Fine Gael has missed out on a seat after 42 consecutive years as a TD.
The full recount of has been cancelled.
The last of four unelected candidates has conceded defeat and accepted he will be eliminated.
The recount had been called after independent Jim Ryan disputed the distribution of votes between himself and Fianna Fáil's Michael Smith.
But just 10 minutes ago, Waterford County Council councillor Smith conceded.
It means that Labour's Alan Kelly and Fianna Fail's Ryan O'Meara will be the next TDs elected to the three-seat constituency.
A recount is underway in the Cork count centre in Nemo Rangers where the fight for the fifth and final seat in Cork North Central looks set to be a nailbiter.
To follow the action in Rbele County live, head to our Cork election liveblog.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has lost his Dáil seat after being eliminated in
Taoiseach Simon Harris’s running mate Edward Timmins was deemed elected without reaching the quota, securing a second seat for Fine Gael.
Donnelly, ultimately, was unable to narrow a gap with Timmins who benefited from a huge surplus from Harris after topping the poll with more than 5,000 votes to spare.
The announcement was made following a marathon count at the Wicklow count centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow, which concluded at 5.25am on Monday morning.
Earlier in the day Donnelly said a combination of a strong “Government vote” for Mr Harris and the loss of a seat from the four-seat constituency had dented his chances.
“We knew Simon would take a huge vote – a Government vote, if you like – in the constituency. It was strong actually, but when you’re sharing a constituency and a hometown with a Taoiseach and moving from a five-seater to a four-seater – when you put those two things together, it obviously creates a lot of pressure,” he said.
“We all knew it would come down to the final seat, to transfers. We’ll see what happens in the coming hours.”
It's a remarkable reversal in electoral fortunes for Donnelly who surged to a poll-topping performance in Wicklow as a member of the Social Democrats in 2016, gaining some 21% of the vote However, shortly after the election, he left the party after a series of disagreements with the co-leaders. At the time he favoured going into coalition government with the Fine Gael-led administration, but this was ruled out by other party figures.
He controversially joined Fianna Fáil in 2017, which led to widespread criticism, though he defended the move at the time insisting that it was important not to remain on the margins.
The move, along with local party tensions, dented his vote in the 2020 election, though he ended up getting elected on the 15th and last count.
In the count centre, Fianna Fáil's Robert Troy has been deemed elected after the distribution of Independent Ireland's Paul Hogan’s votes in the fifteenth and final count pushed him beyond the quota.
Fine Gael's Micheál Carrigy was also elected despite not reaching the quota as there were no votes left to distribute and the next nearest candidate, Fianna Fáil's Joe Flaherty had a smaller amount of votes.
This ends the count in Athlone for the Longford-Westmeath constituency with Flaherty losing his seat, and Fine Gael gaining a seat through Micheál Carrigy and the Independent candidate Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran returning to the national political scene.
100% Redress candidate Charles Ward and Fianna Fail's Charlie McConalogue take last two seats in They join Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn as well as Pat the Cope Gallagher in this five seater.
A visceral roar erupted in the bowls of the John McCormack Centre, TUS Athlone heralding the return of Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran to Dáil Éireann.
The based representative received 195 votes from the surplus of Sinn Féin's Sorca Clarke, which pushed him over the quota of 10,315 votes by 135 votes.
As the remaining 135 votes of Clarke’s surplus, which were yet to be distributed, cannot elect the highest remaining candidate, Fianna Fáil's Robert Troy or save Paul Hogan from exclusion, the Independent Ireland candidate has been eliminated.
Hogan’s votes are now being distributed amongst the remaining candidates.
In Fine Gael's Hildegarde Naughton has been elected for the third term in a row.
Her Fine Gael colleague Sean Kyne announced his resignation from politics after failing to regain his seat for the second election in a row.
Counting in has been suspended until 10am on Monday morning, after the 18th count.
No candidate reached the quota on this count. Fine Gael's John McGahon was eliminated and his 4,587 votes are to be distributed at the next count tomorrow.
Three new TDs have been elected to following the retirement of Fine Gael’s Richard Bruton and Fianna Fáil TD Sean Haughey, and the election of Labour’s Aodhán Ó Riordáin to the European parliament.
Fine Gael’s Naoise Ó Muirí won the third seat while Independent Cllr Barry Heneghan, protégé of former minister of state Finian McGrath, took the fourth seat ahead of Fianna Fáil’s Tom Brabazon who secured the fifth. All three were elected on the 14th and final count without reaching the quota.
Asked would he support a Fianna Fáil/ Fine Gael government the new Independent TD said he would “discuss it with the kitchen Cabinet”.
The three newly elected TDs join poll topper Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan and Sinn Féin TD Denise Mitchell who were comfortably returned.
In , another elected official and it's a familiar face making a return to the Dáil.
Pat the Cope Gallagher has been elected on the 15th count.
The Fianna Fáil candidate had lost his seat in 2020 but has regained it four years later.
While in , the count has concluded with the election of Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Scanlon and Independent Marian Harkin to the final two of four seats.
We're still going in some count centres.
has finished up though and three more TDs have beene elected on the 14th count.
They are Naoise Ó Muirí of Fine Gael, Tom Brabazon of Fianna Fáil and Independent candidate Barry Heneghan.
In /, Sinn Féin’s Sorcha Clarke has taken the second seat.
She received a remarkable 2,353 votes from her running mate Barry Campion
It's a Sinn Féin 'one-two' in .
In the 17th count, Joanna Byrne is the second TD elected in the five seater constituency, after her fellow SF Ruairi Ó Murchú was elected and his surplus votes redistributed
Jennifer Whitmore, the Social Democrats TD and childcare spokeswoman, has retained her seat in .
She was elected on the ninth count on the back of transfers from the Green Party's outgoing TD Steven Matthews, who was eliminated.
Movement in Kildare North!
Aidan Farrelly has been elected on the tenth count for the Social Democrats.
He succeeds Catherine Murphy to retain the seat for the party - who are now up to 10 seats so far in this election.
There are still three seats to fill in the five-seat constituency, with Fianna Fáíl's James Lawless already home and hosed.
The returning officer agreed to suspend counting until 9am on Monday
Another constituency has wrapped up.
has returned incumbent TD Thomas Byrne of Fianna Fáíl after reaching the quota.
Independent Gillian Toole has taken the final seat there despite not reaching the quota.
The constituency was previously a three-seater but received an extra seat in this election.
Another Sinn Féín candidate has won his seat - this time it's Martin Kenny in .
He takes the second of four available seats after Fine Gael's Frank Feighan.
Fine Gael is increasingly confident they will take a second seat in Wicklow at the expense of Fianna Fáil Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
The party’s west Wicklow councillor Edward Timmins has kept a gap of almost 1,300 votes on Donnelly after the eighth count.
Local party campaigners say Timmins has a much clearer path to taking the final spot in the four-seat constituency on the back of transfers from the remaining candidates.
He is likely to do better from Shay Cullen, a former Fine Gael councillor based in Newtownmountkennedy, while Donnelly’s only hope is to gain more transfers from former Fianna Fáil TD Joe Behan and outgoing Green Party TD Steven Mathews, who is based in Donnelly’s hometown of Greystones.
Matthews was officially eliminated from the contest on the eight count and his 3,000-plus votes are currently being redistributed.
has elected its first TD!
The smallest county in Ireland had the longest ballot paper in the country of 24 candidates but Sinn Féin's Ruairi Ó Murchú has secured the first of five available seats in the constituency.
Another outgoing Minister has retained their seat.
This time it's Education Minister Norma Foley for Fianna Fáil.
She exceeded the quota in of 13,654 on the 13th count.
Michael Cahill of Fianna Fáil was also elected having not reached the count to take the fifth and final seat.
Earlier, Danny Healy-Rae spoke to the Irish Examiner after his election.
In , we're finished up too.
Jen Cummins of the Social Democrats has taken another seat in the capital for the party.
She has been joined by Aengus O'Snodaigh and Máire Devine of Sinn Féin to complete the four-seater constituency after Fianna Fáil's Catherine Ardagh took the first stea.
We have a full recount being called in Tipperary North.
It arose after the ninth count when the two lowest candidates - Independent Jim Ryan and Fianna Fáil's Michael Smith - were separated by just seven votes.
A re-check of the votes of Phyll Bugler of Fine Gael was undertaken and found Mr Smith to be ahead by just one vote.
A second re-check left the gap at two votes.
As a result, a full recount has been called, it will begin at 11am on Monday.
Conor Sheehan of Labour has been confirmed as the 4th and final TD for .
has also elected another TD - Niall Collins of Fianna Fáil on the 13th count to finish off the constituency.
On the flip side, has just elected its first TD on the 11th count.
Fianna Fáíl's John McGuinness has gotten over the line there.
Denise Mitchell of Sinn Féin has been elected in on the 11th count.
She joins Cian O'Callaghan of the Social Democrats in the 34th Dáil for the region.
Also in the capital, Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh has taken the first seat in
Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh has taken the first seat in Dublin South Central.
In , Sinn Féin's Mairead Farrell and Independent Catherine Connolly have also been elected on the 11th count there.
11 seems to be the magic number for electing TDs, as Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan became the first elected TD in an eleventh count