Election 2024: The latest from every constituency as counting ...

Here is a snapshot of what was happening in every constituency across the nation this evening, as counts continue into Sunday night.

Carlow-Kilkenny

As of last night, no one had been elected in Carlow-Kilkenny, but Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness was inching towards the quota.

Next was Jennifer Murnane O’Connor (Fianna Fáil) on 8,735, followed by Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere (FF) on 7,957, Áine Gladney Knox (Sinn Féin) on 7,535 and Catherine Callaghan (Fine Gael) on 7,405. Fine Gael’s Michael Doyle was eliminated. His transfers could push party colleague and fellow Kilkenny man David Fitzgerald back into contention.

Still in the mix was Social Democrat Patricia Stephenson.

Cavan-Monaghan

Cavan-Monaghan has the distinction of being the slowest count in the country and it was quite possible that there would be nobody elected until early this morning.

Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy led with 9,487 votes, around 2,000 short of the quota.

Sinn Féin will take two seats and Fine Gael will take one seat, but it is anybody’s guess as to who will take the last two seats.

Fianna Fáil, which is the only party to actually increase its vote from last time out, will be confident.

Clare

Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley was the first TD to be elected in the county.

He surpassed the quota on count 13 and was later followed by his fellow Fianna Fáil candidate Cathal Crowe, himself an incumbent TD.

Donna McGettigan of Sinn Féin and Joe Cooney of Fine Gael were both deemed elected despite not reaching the quota. Sinn Féin delighted to take back a seat they won last time around through Violet-Anne Wynne, but who subsequently left the party.

Cork East

The final make-up of Cork East was decided on the 12th count, in which the 322 surplus votes of first-elected James O’Connor (outgoing Fianna Fáil) were distributed among four candidates vying for three seats.

Noel McCarthy (Fine Gael) and outgoing Sinn Féín TD Pat Buckley knew they would be elected, while Liam Quaide (Social Democrats) and Mark Stanton (Fine Gael) were neck and neck. Ultimately, it was Mr Stanton, seeking to secure the seat of his outgoing father David, who lost out. Transfers did not allow him to surpass Mr Quaide.

Cork North-Central

Outgoing TDs Pádraig O’Sullivan (Fianna Fáil), Colm Burke (Fine Gael) and Thomas Gould (Sinn Féin) will comfortably retain their Dáil seats, while a veteran former TD saw his son win a seat 13 years after he retired.

Councillor Ken O’Flynn (Independent Ireland) is set to take a seat after his father, Fianna Fáil politician Noel O’Flynn, retired in 2011. A titanic battle emerged for the fifth and final seat between outgoing People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Mick Barry, Fianna Fáil Cllr Tony Fitzgerald and Labour councillor Eoghan Kenny.

Cork North-West

It became clear early on what the voters here wanted – more Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Outgoing Fianna Fáil TDs Aindrias Moynihan and Michael Moynihan, and Fine Gael challengers councillors John Paul O’Shea and Michael Creed were always well ahead in the tallies and counts.

Geography had the biggest say on the final make-up of the three seats, all decided on the fifth count. Aindrias Moynihan secured a bigger vote than his southern-based rival Mr Creed, who lost out as he could not compete with the number of transfers Mr O’Shea and Michael Moynihan received.

Cork South-Central

Tánaiste Micheál Martin was elected on the first count as Fianna Fáil comfortably held its two seats, with Councillor Seamus McGrath, an older brother to EU Commissioner Michael McGrath, also elected. Also set to be comfortably elected is Sinn Féin’s outgoing TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire.

Social Democrat councillor Pádraig Rice was the surprise challenger of the election and was poised to take a seat. Fine Gael also retained former tánaiste Simon Coveney’s old seat through senator Jerry Buttimer.

Cork South-West

Independent Ireland party leader Michael Collins retained his seat in Cork South-West after he was elected on the eighth count.

“I am delighted to top the poll. It is a great achievement for Independent Ireland, which is hugely important,” he said.

Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan retained his seat after his election was confirmed on the eleventh count.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who gave birth to a baby girl on polling day last Friday, also retained her seat following the tenth count.

Donegal

In Donegal, Fianna Fáil’s Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher’s comeback looks to be complete, while an outgoing TD is at risk of losing out. Mr Gallagher will take the third seat, with Fianna Fáil’s Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, outgoing Independent TD Thomas Pringle and 100pc Redress Party’s Charles Ward all depending on transfers to decide their fate.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty topped the poll with 18,898 first preferences, easily exceeding the quota of 12,771 by more than 6,000 votes. He was closely followed by party colleague Pádraig Mac Lochlainn on the second count.

Dublin Bay North

Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan was the first candidate to be elected in Dublin Bay North in count eight, after he surpassed the quota with 11,908 votes.

Mr O’Callaghan said it had been a “brilliant day” for the party. Denise Mitchell of Sinn Féin got across the line as the second candidate in the area to be elected, while Labour’s Shane Folan was eliminated.

Independent Barry Heneghen was back in contention last night after he benefited from Aontú candidate James Morris’s transfers and leapfrogged Fianna Fáil’s Deirdre Heney.

Dublin Bay South

The upset in this constituency came at the very end when Sinn Féin’s Chris Andrews lost his seat to Eoin Hayes of the Social Democrats.

When Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan’s surplus was spread, it wasn’t enough to bring either over the quota, but it brought Mr Hayes into first place over Mr Andrews. Ivana Bacik’s surplus of 585 was then brought into play, and this gifted Mr Hayes the seat. The three other spots were won by James Geoghegan (Fine Gael), Jim O’Callaghan (Fianna Fáil), and Ivana Bacik (Labour), who all held their seats.

Dublin Central

All four seats of Dublin Central have now been filled, and while a lot has stayed the same, there were two things that marked it out as different: Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch running and nearly succeeding, and the exit of Green Party member Neasa Hourigan.

Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Féin), Gary Gannon (Social Democrats), and Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael) all kept their seats. Labour’s Marie Sherlock took the fourth seat.

It will be a bitter disappointment for the Green Party when combined with the collapse in their support nationwide.

Dublin Fingal East

Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien secured re-election, with ­Labour’s Duncan Smith and Sinn Féin’s Ann Graves also taking seats.

Mr O’Brien, the outgoing Housing Minister, led from the outset and was elected early. Smith, after a tight race, held onto his seat, while Graves gained a significant boost to claim the third seat.

Fine Gael suffered a blow as Alan Farrell, despite a strong effort, was eliminated.

The race for the final seats saw close competition, with Social ­Democrats’ Joan Hopkins and others eliminated as votes were redistributed.

Dublin Fingal West

Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly was elected on the fourth count, followed by Labour’s Robert O’Donoghue and Fine Gael’s Grace Boland, who secured the final two seats on the sixth count. Independent candidate Tony Murphy was eliminated at this stage.

The final results followed a tight race, with key moments including the elimination of Fianna Fáil’s Lorraine Clifford-Lee on the fifth count after narrowly losing out to Mr Murphy.

Ms Clifford-Lee will be very disappointed with her results after running to become a TD several times.

Dublin Mid-West

Paul Nicholas Gogarty (Independent) and Shane Moynihan (Fianna Fáil) took the two final seats in Dublin Mid-West, pipping Eoin Ó Broin from the Social Democrats at the last hurdle.

Fine Gael’s Emer Higgins reclaimed her seat on the 12th count. Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for mental health, Mark Ward, was also elected. The other candidate named Eoin Ó Broin, the Sinn Féin spokesperson for housing, got a total of 9,892 votes in the first count. As he was being lifted up in the air, he said: “I’m scarlet.”

Dublin North West

Social Democrats’ Rory Hearne, Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe and Sinn Féin’s Dessie Ellis were all elected.

A housing expert, Mr Hearne secured a seat, with 8,400 votes, following the departure of the party’s co-founder Róisín Shortall.

The second seat was taken by Paul McAuliffe, who received a large boost from Noel Rock’s (Fine Gael) transfers and finished with 8,189 votes. Dessie Ellis, a TD for the area since 2011 who received most first-preference votes, won the last seat, with 7,562 votes.

Dublin Rathdown

It was a tale of the first-time TDs as Social Democrats’ Sineád Gibney, Fine Gael councillor Maeve O’Connell and Fianna Fáil councillor Shay Brennan were all elected to the Dáil.

Fine Gael junior minister Neale Richmond was elected on the first count on Saturday, having topped the poll and surpassed the quota with 10,044 first preference votes.

Shay Brennan’s father, the late Séamus Brennan, held several portfolios as a Fianna Fáil minister and it is the first time Fianna Fáil has held a seat in the area since Mr Brennan’s father died in 2008.

Dublin South-Central

Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh was elected along with two Sinn Féin candidates – Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Máire Devine – and Social Democrats’ Jen Cummins.

Meanwhile, two sitting TDs lost their seats in Dublin South Central.

Patrick Costello, a TD since 2020 and husband of Hazel Chu, became another Green Party casualty.

Right to Change candidate Joan Collins, who was a TD for 13 years, was also eliminated and said she doesn’t intend to run again.

Dublin South-West

Sinn Féin’s Seán Crowe surpassed the quota of 11,138, with 11,226 votes in total. Fine Gael’s Colm Brophy was elected on the seventh count.

Fianna Fáil’s John Lahart retained his seat after achieving an impressive 4,016 transfers following the elimination of his running mate Teresa Costello.

People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy stood to suffer as a result of redrawing the constituency, but he managed to get in on the tenth count.

Dublin West

Roderic O’Gorman will be the sole Green Party TD in the 34th Dáil after he was elected alongside People Before ­Profit’s Ruth Coppinger in the final count.

It was a close battle for the final seat between Mr O’Gorman and Ellen Troy of Aontú, but the former was more transfer-­friendly from Labour candidate John Walsh’s redistributed votes. Previously, Jack Chambers of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin’s Paul Donnelly were both elected on the first count, and they were joined by Emer Currie of Fine Gael on Saturday evening.

Dún Laoghaire

All seats were filled in Dún Laoghaire on the first day of counting – the second constituency to do so – with two Fine Gael candidates winning seats.

Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeill became the first TD elected on the first count and was later joined by Barry Ward.

People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Richard Boyd Barrett and Fianna Fáil’s Cormac Devlin secured the remaining seats.

Green Party TD and junior minister Ossian Smyth was eliminated on the fifth count as the party faced a damaging election.

Galway East

Albert Dolan is the talk of the town in Galway East. He celebrated his 26th birthday by winning a Dáil seat, and is being talked up as a future leader of Fianna Fáil.

Séan Canney (Independent) was elected first late on Saturday night and Mr Dolan quickly followed him yesterday morning. Pete Roche (Fine Gael) and Louis O’Hara (Sinn Féin) took the final two seats.

Fine Gael will be happy to hold the seat vacated by Ciarán Cannon, while Mr Dolan’s gain makes up for the loss of junior minister Anne Rabbitte. Mr O’Hara is the first Sinn Féin TD here for more than a century.

Galway West

Sinn Féin’s Mairéad Farrell and Independent Catherine Connolly were both re-elected on the 11th count.

Fianna Fáil candidate Gráinne Seoige was officially eliminated on the ninth count.

However, her transfers offered a boost to John Connolly, who looked well-placed last night to get a seat in the Dáil.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton faced a challenge to keep her seat while Independent Noel Grealish was in the hunt to be re-elected.

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Kerry

It took a bit longer to get the results yesterday after just two TDs were elected by 6pm. In what was no surprise, Michael Healy-Rae topped the poll with a whopping 18,596 late on Saturday night. It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that the next TD made it across the line, with Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly taking the second seat in the five-seater.

It looked like a shock was in store for Fine Gael last night, as it seemed almost certain to lose its long-held party seat.

This is likely to be Fianna Fáil’s gain, with councillor ­Michael Cahill expected to join minister Norma Foley.

Kildare North

Fianna Fáil junior minister James Lawless was inching towards the quota and looked set to take the first seat.

Social Democrats councillor Aidan Farrelly, however, was showing a very pleasing result for the party, whose co-founder Catherine Murphy has bowed out of politics.

Sinn Féin’s Réada Cronin was expected to hold her seat without difficulty and the two seats remaining in the newly expanded five-seater were looking to go to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but with some doubt over whether veteran ­Bernard Durkan (Fine Gael) could hold on.

Kildare South

Seán Ó Fearghaíl’s position as Ceann Comhairle earned the Fianna Fáil TD automatic re-election. It was also always clear that Fine Gael’s Martin Heydon would survive.

After that came a battle between Fianna Fáil senator Fiona O’Loughlin, looking to regain the seat she lost in 2020; ­Labour senator Mark Wall, aiming to win the seat his father held up to 2016; and Sinn Féin’s Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh, looking to hold the party’s seat after incumbent Patricia Ryan quit Sinn Féin in October.

The outcome was uncertain, but Wall and Ní Raghallaigh came out the winners.

Laois

Fine Gael’s Willie Aird, a councillor in Laois for the past 45 years, was the first to be elected to the Dáil in Laois, after the fifth count, with 9,619 votes.

A first-time TD, tallies had tipped him ahead of sitting TDs Minister of State Seán Fleming (Fianna Fáil) and 2020 general election poll-topper Brian Stanley TD (Independent).

It wasn’t until the eighth and final count that both Mr Fleming and Mr Stanley were returned to Dáil Éireann, with 10,693 and 9,512 votes respectively. Sinn Féin’s sole candidate, Maria McCormack, failed to get a seat.

Limerick City

The constituency ultimately became a two-horse race. The first seat went to Willie O’Dea (Fianna Fáíl) on Saturday. ­Kieran O’Donnell (Fine Gael) and Maurice Quinlivan (Sinn Féin) both claimed seats yesterday.

Last night it was a race between Labour’s Conor Sheehan and Social Democrats’ Elisa O’Donovan.

Mr Sheehan ultimately took the seat. Ms O’Donovan conceded with a 598 vote difference. After a mix-up with name order on the city ballot papers, Ms O’Donovan questioned the impact this would have on her race.

Limerick County

Fine Gael’s Patrick O’Donovan was elected in the first count after winning a seat by a landslide.

Richard O’Donoghue of Independent Ireland claimed the second seat in the ninth count. He arrived to the count centre after attending a wedding in Granagh and headed back out to celebrate his win with the newlyweds.

Fianna Fáil’s Niall Collins was elected to fill the third county seat at 2.10am yesterday, after a near 14-hour count. Roars of “ole, ole” echoed throughout a sleepy Limerick Racecourse to energise the crowd ahead of an early-morning drive home.

Longford-Westmeath

Outgoing Enterprise Minister Peter Burke was elected on the first count, but there was a long wait for further confirmation of elected TDs in Longford-Westmeath.

Aontú’s Laura O’Neill was eliminated last night, leaving eight others battling it out to remain in the race.

Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy and former Office of Public Works minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, an Independent candidate, ­remained best placed to get closest to the quota following the redistribution of Labour Party candidate Fidelma Bennett’s 2,300 votes.

Louth

Louth was still to elect any candidate following two long days of counting late yesterday evening, but the writing was on the wall from early on with two Sinn Féin, one Labour, one Fine Gael and a Fianna Fáil seat for the first time since 2016.

Sinn Féin was always going to retain its two seats, even though its party share fell from a historic highpoint in 2020, while Ged Nash was also pretty secure from the off.

Mayo

There were jubilant scenes as first over the line in count seven was poll-topper Rose Conway-Walsh of Sinn Féin.

She became the first woman ever to top the poll in Co Mayo.

Then in count eight both Alan Dillon (Fine Gael) and Dara Calleary (Fianna Fáil) were elected.

Keira Keogh, Michael Ring’s protegee from Westport, claimed the fourth seat.

Paul Lawless (Aontú) won the fifth and final seat, making him the second Aontú TD to be elected to the Dáil.

Meath East

Helen McEntee took the first seat in Meath East, although she may be disappointed at having to wait until the fifth count to secure it.

The poll-topper in the last general election, Sinn Féin’s Darren O’Rourke, claimed his seat at count 10.

Thomas Byrne of Fianna Fáil was well placed to take the third seat in the four-seat constituency.

In terms of the fourth seat, Independent Gillian Toole had retained an early lead and was ahead of Emer Tóibín (Aontú) and Sharon Tolan (Fine Gael).

Meath West

Meath West was the first constituency in the country to ­complete its count, at around 10.30pm on Saturday.

Topping the poll was Sinn Féin’s Johnny Guirke, who was re-elected on the third count. The Moylagh native said he faced a challenge in this election with the redrawing of the constituency boundary.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín took the constituency’s second seat on count four.

The third and final seat was won by Fianna Fáil’s Aisling Dempsey, daughter of former minister Noel Dempsey.

Offaly

The close fight for the last seat in this three-seat constituency was put to bed in the early hours of yesterday morning, with John Clendennen of Fine Gael edging past first-time candidate Aoife Masterson (Sinn Féin).

Mr Clendennen will sit alongside returning TD Carol Nolan, who is an Independent but formerly Sinn Féin, and Fianna Fáil’s Tony McCormack, who has been a local representative for 15 years. There was strong support for Ms Masterson. She came in close behind Mr Clendennen, with only 116 votes separating them.

Roscommon-Galway

Claire Kerrane of Sinn Féin and Martin Daly of Fianna Fáil were elected on the seventh count at the Dr Hyde GAA ­Centre in Roscommon town yesterday afternoon.

They will join Michael Fitzmaurice of Independent Ireland in the next Dáil from Roscommon-Galway.

Mr Fitzmaurice has topped the poll for the second time in a row in his constituency and was elected on the first count.

Aisling Dolan of Fine Gael was the candidate to miss out on a seat in the final count.

Sligo-Leitrim

As the Sligo/Leitrim count entered its final few counts, it was becoming clear that the final seat of the four will be between outgoing TD Marian Harkin (Ind) and Independent Ireland candidate Michael Clarke.

Fine Gael ran one candidate and it proved to be a correct strategy with outgoing TD Frank Feighan vastly improving on his showing in 2020 to top the poll.

Sinn Féin’s Martin Kenny was expected to also comfortably get elected with Eamon Scanlon taking back the seat he lost narrowly in 2020 for Fianna Fáil.

Tipperary North

Returning officer James Seymour announced that there is to be full recount in Tipperary North, due to commence on Monday at 11am.

The ninth count redistributed 5,000 votes from Fine Gael’s Phyll Bugler. That ended up with Fianna Fáil’s Ryan O’Meara on 7,781 votes, while Fianna Fáil’s Michael Smith (6,369) was just seven votes ahead of Thurles-based Independent candidate Jim Ryan (6,362). It’s understood a re-check found Smith and Ryan were even closer than those seven votes, and this has prompted Ryan to now request a full re-count.

Tipperary South

As expected, Independent candidate Mattie McGrath topped the poll on count two, far ahead of the rest of the pack.

As of yesterday evening, Clonmel mayor Michael Murphy (Fine Gael) was just 214 votes shy of the quota of 10,270, with 10,056 votes.

The final seat was being fought over yesterday by Fianna Fáil’s Imelda Goldsboro and Independent Samus Healy. In a dramatic turn of events, Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne, who had also been in contention for the final third seat, conceded defeat.

Waterford

Sinn Féin made history as the party got two TDs elected in Waterford.

At the expense of a devastated Independent candidate Matt Shanahan, Conor McGuinness will move from his council seat to join his party colleague David Cullinane, who was elected on the first count, repeating his 2020 success.

Fine Gael regains a seat having lost it in the last election as Senator John Cummins makes his move to the Dáil.

Mary Butler returns to the Dáil for the third time, with the hope of a ministerial role in the pipeline.

Wexford

Verona Murphy (Independent) was elected on the first count on Saturday night, surpassing the quota by 838 votes.

Both James Browne (Fianna Fáil) and Johnny Mythen (Sinn Féin) surpassed the quota yesterday following the distribution of Aontú candidate Jim Codd’s votes. George Lawlor (Labour) took the final seat without hitting the 10,502 quota.

It’s the first time Wexford failed to return a Fine Gael TD since 1927, although they did have success with Brian Brennan in Wicklow/Wexford. It was a miserable run for former TD Mick Wallace, who was eliminated on count eight.

Wicklow

A battle for the fourth seat between Health Minister Stephen Donnelly (Fianna Fáil) and Wicklow county councillor Edward Timmins (Fine Gael) was going down to the wire.

Early yesterday, things were tight between the pair, representing opposites side of the Garden County, before Mr Timmins got 45pc of Simon Harris’s 5,454 transfers in the second count. Mr Donnelly got just shy of 20pc of those votes, but by count five, the FG man was still 946 ahead. From the first count, incumbents John Brady (Sinn Féin) and Jennifer ­Whitmore (Social Democrats) were set to be re-elected.

Wicklow-Wexford

Brian Brennan, who topped the poll, is in the history books as the first-ever TD to be elected in the newly formed Wicklow-­Wexford constituency.

In the final count, with Peir Leonard’s transfers, Fine Gael’s Mr Brennan passed the quota of 9,560 first with 10,339 votes.

Sinn Féin’s Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin also surpassed the quota with 10,222 votes.

Fianna Fáil’s Malcolm Byrne was deemed elected with 9,156 votes, while his party colleague Pat Kennedy was eliminated with 6,609 votes.