Early election results: Health Minister Stephen Donnelly appears to ...

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly could lose his seat in Wicklow, as more early election results emerge.

The Fianna Fáil Minister for Health is in considerable difficulty for his battle for re-election. In the four seater election, he is trailing Simon Harris who is sitting comfortably at the top, with 28% of the vote. John Brady of Sinn Fein is in second place, with 15% of the vote, whilst Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats is third, with 14% of first preference votes.

Cllr Edward Timmons of Fine Gael is ahead of Donnelly, with 7% of the vote. 

With Fine Gael leader, Harris, polling almost 30% of votes, he has a growing chance of bringing in a running mate. Harris looks set to have a surplus of between 5 and 10 per cent, with most of those transfers set to go to his Fine Gael running mate, which would put Timmins ahead of Donnelly and gives Fine Gael a real chance to take a second seat in Wicklow.

Elsewhere, in Laois, with 66% of boxes counted, Fine Gael is topping the poll at 25%, followed by Fianna Fail’s Flemming at 21% and Independent Stanley at 18%. McCormack of Sinn Fein is in fourth place presently, followed by Independent candidate Aisling Moran at 6%.

In Dun Laoighaire, Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill is likely to top the poll, with 21% of first preference votes. Fianna Fail’s Devlin is at 16%, followed by Fine Gael’s Barry Ward at 15%. Richard Boyd-Barrett looks likey to keep his seat there, currently polling at 12%.

Mick Wallace and Clare Daly are both having bad days, with Wallace only at 3% in early tallies and looking unlikely to retain his seat.

More updates to follow.