Dun Laoghaire General Election 2024 updates: 'The left should ...

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Tallies indicate first major wins and casualties in tight race

10:35am: Richard Boyd Barrett: ‘The left should have come together sooner, but it’s still a historic decline for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’

Sitting Dun Laoghairie TD and People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett called the electoral counting a ‘nail biter’ as there wasn’t a clear left alternative.

“Mary Lou called at the very end for a transfer to the left with ourselves and the Social Democrats but that message should have gotten out much earlier, I think the #VoteLeftTransferLeft campaign could have made a big difference,” he said.

Speaking at the Leopardstown Racecourse count centre where the ballot boxes from his constituency were being opened, Mr Barrett was confident about their own results.

With 65 pc of the boxes open, he follows Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Fianna Fáil’s Cormac Devlin with over 13 pc of the total counted votes.

He worried that the lack of a clear left alliance had led to a smaller voter turnout than parties like his own had hoped for.

“We argued from the beginning that there should have been a clear left alliance, I think that would have created momentum and one consequence of that is it looks like a low turnout in working class areas and among young people – which will favour the government and won’t be great for the left,” he said.

“I think for the big picture, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are still down from the last election – so the historical decline of that coalition is still a feature in this election. If the left had come out clearly and told people we’re providing an alternative without propping up the government, the people who didn’t turn out would have turned up.”

10:35am: Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has an early lead

With 37 pc of boxes opened, tally people at Leopardstown Racecourse have already begun speculating about trends.

A total 49 out of 132 boxes opened, sitting Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has the lead having gathered up over 20 pc of the votes so far.

Another Fine Gael candidate and the party’s Seanad spokesperson Barry Ward is also strongly in the running with over 13 pc of the votes.

MacNeill is followed closely by Fianna Fáil’s Cormac Devlin and People Before Profit – Solidarity’s Richard Boyd Barrett who respectively have 15.5 pc and 12.9 of votes calculated so far.

A 57 pc turnout has been projected among the 95,462 electorate in Dun Laoghaire. As tallies continue at a steady place, a small crowd watches on patiently at the count centre in Leopardstown Racecourse.