Local election results: Half of local election seats filled with many ...

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has said she is 'disappointed' with Sinn Fein's performance in the local elections. Video: Enda O'Dowd

Half of the seats on county and city councils across the State have been filled, with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil battling it out to be the largest party in local government.

With more than 480 local election seats of 949 filled by 7.15pm on Sunday, Fine Gael had 139 elected councillors and a first preference vote share of 22.8 per cent, ahead of Fianna Fáil’s 124 seats and 23 per cent share. Independents and others had taken 130 seats on almost 28 per cent of the vote.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said his position on when the general election should be held “hasn’t changed” despite Fine Gael’s success in the local elections. He previously said he wanted the Coalition to continue for its full term, which would mean no election until early next year.

Speaking at the RDS count centre in Dublin, Mr Harris said: “I’ve answered this question many times since becoming Taoiseach… but my position in relation to that hasn’t changed.”

A Fianna Fáil Minister, speaking privately, said it was “neck and neck” between the two main parties and that “neither party can confidently say they will be ahead of the other at this point”.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald admitted her party has had a “disappointing” weekend. It had won just 36 council seats as of Sunday evening and claimed just 11.6 per cent of the first preference vote, well shy of its standing in the opinion polls.

“We have made some gains. They are modest, but they’re there. It hasn’t been our day. Clearly frustrations and indeed anger with Government policy, on this occasion, has translated into votes for Independents and others,” she told reporters as she arrived at the RDS in Dublin for the European election count at lunchtime.

“We will regroup. I am sorry we didn’t do better, I know that we can do better and I am determined that we will do better.”

The Taoiseach Simon Harris has said his position on when the general election should be held “hasn’t changed”

Sinn Féin’s share of the vote so far is two percentage points higher than its 2019 local election performance, when it lost a significant number of seats, but remains well below the 2020 general election performance of 24.5 per cent.

Arriving at the count centre for the Dublin seat in the European Parliament at the RDS, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it had been a “mixed day” for his candidates, but it was too early to say whether Ciarán Cuffe would retain his European Parliament seat in Dublin or Grace O’Sullivan would retain hers in Ireland South.

Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe has said he believes it's 'inevitable' there will now be a General Election this year. Video: Enda O'Dowd

Counting in the European elections began on Sunday but the first Irish results are not expected to be announced until late Sunday night or Monday.

On the continent, far-right parties are on course to make gains in several countries, while support for the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is holding up well, according to election exit polling from eight countries. The European Greens are projected to lose a large number of the seats they won five years ago.

Sinéad Gibney, the Social Democrats candidate for Dublin, admitted she was facing an uphill struggle to claim a seat in the capital, but at local level the party appears to have added to its representatives.

Labour’s MEP candidate for Dublin Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said he expected to be in the mix for a seat in Dublin, claiming the election was an important turning point for his party. “We have got our self-confidence back,” he said at the RDS.

In Midlands-North-West, Independent MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan said he was happy with tallies so far.

“We’ll see what happens, but if someone said to me three or four weeks ago that the tallies were saying what they were saying, I’d be happy at this stage,” he told reporters at the count centre.

Sinn Féin would “struggle” to secure a seat in the constituency, he said, “which is extraordinary. When you look at some of the opinion polls from just over a year ago.”

A partial tally of European votes in Dublin, which comes with significant caveats and health warnings attached, had Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews ahead of his rivals on 13.1 per cent, with Regina Doherty of Fine Gael on 12.3 per cent.

Ms Doherty said that a sense of momentum stemming from the election of Mr Harris as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach just over two months ago had energised the party’s campaigns. She said the party was having a “good weekend” and there was a “good feeling all around”.

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