Election 2024: Day two of counting as it happened
1-12-2024: Michael and Danny Healy-Rae are elected to Dail Eireann in Killarney.
Saturday saw the makeup of the 34th Dáil become a little bit clearer.
The day began with a large portion of the 174 seats still to be filled but by it's conclusion, we were left with just 40 or so candidates to be elected.
The Irish Examiner were covering all 43 constituencies to keep an eye on the twists and turns
Our live blog for the overall results is still up and running - you can follow along here.
Here is how day two broke down
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8.40pm
Looking to catch up? Here are a few pieces to bring you up to speed.
Elaine Loughlin on giving chase to Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch after he missed out on a seat in Dublin Central;
From the power of celebrity to the generational divide, Paul Hosford looks at the 10 things we've learned from Election 2024;
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns toasts her party's election success and becoming a new mother.
The Mick Clifford Podcast: Who are the winners and losers from Election 2024?
The best buachaill? A Cork count centre staffer has become, for many, the face of the election thanks to his quirky choice of novelty t-shirts;
And of course, you can follow all the results as they land at the Irish Examiner's Election Results Hub.
Done and dusted in .
People Before Profit's Paul Murphy has taken the final seat there, joining Labour's Ciarán Ahern, Fianna Fáil's John Lahart, Fine Gael's Colm Brophy and Sinn Féin's Seán Crowe.
There is also a big upset in .
Aontú's Paul Lawless has taken the fifth and final seat there - giving the party their second TD to go alongside Peadar Tóibín.
On the 11th count, he and Fine Gael's Keira Keogh have been elected without reaching the quota.
Fianna Fáil's James Lawless is the first candidate to be elected in . He exceeded the quota of 9,505 on the 8th count.
Meanwhile, the Social Democrats' Elisa O’Donovan has conceded defeat to Conor Sheehan of Labour in the fight for the final 4th seat in Limerick City.
Donna McGettigan of Sinn Féin and and Joe Cooney of Fine Gael have both been elected in the four seat constituency without reaching the quota.
Meanwhile, Social Democrats candidate Sinéad Gibney has finished on top in with 10,612 votes, with Fine Gael's Maeve O’Connell and Shay Brennan of Fianna Fáíl also being elected following the final count.
The Green Party have avoided a complete wipeout.
Party leader Roderic O'Gorman has managed to hang on in without reaching the quota.
He and Solidarity/People Before Profit's Ruth Coppinger have taken the final two seats.
Ms Coppinger secured 7,165 votes and Mr O’Gorman 6,080 votes following the transfer of Labour’s John Walsh’s votes. Aontú’s Ellen Troy was eliminated in the 13th count.
In , Danny Healy-Rae has followed in the footsteps of his brother Michael by getting re-elected to the Dáíl.
He has won the third seat in the constituency after exceeding the quota.
He and his supporters serenade the Kerry count centre with a rendition of 'red is the rose'.
We are all finished in .
The man best known for 'unparliamentary language' Paul Gogarty has returned to the Dáíl as an Independent. He had lost his seat in 2011.
He has been joined by Shane Moynihan of Fianna Fáíl on the final count.
Neither man reached the quota.
A major surprise in the capital and it's more good news for the Social Democrats.
Their candidate Eoin Hayes has managed to take the last seat in - ahead of incumbent TD Chris Andrews of Sinn Féin.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has thanked the staff of Cork University Maternity Hospital for her care over the weekend after she gave birth to a baby girl on election day.
In a statement, Ms Cairns said that she and her family were treated with “incredible care and kindness throughout my pregnancy and this weekend”.
Maurice Quinlivan of Sinn Féin, has been elected after Count 13 in.
Earlier, Kieran O’Donnell of Fine Gael took the 2nd seat.
Yesterday Willie O’Dea of Fianna Fáíl topped the poll taking the first seat.
Green Party minister Catherine Martin has lost her seat in after being eliminated following the ninth count.
Ms Martin became the latest Green Party member to lose their seat on Sunday evening when she finished with 5,881 votes against a quota of 9,752.
On the 15th count in , Fianna Fáíl's Cathal Crowe has been elected.
Another one over the line in .
It's more good news for Fine Gael as Emer Higgins holds on to her seat.
Two more declarations have landed and two more constituencies have finished up.
Conor D McGuinnness has taken the final seat in for Sinn Féin. He has outlasted Independent candidate Matt Shanahan.
While in , Michael Murphy has become the first Fine Gael TD to be elected in the county in nearly 14 years.
He has been joined by independent Seamus Healy who failed to reach the quota.
The 74-year-old independent former TD, regains the Dail seat he lost in 2020.
Back to and to the race for the last of four seats - and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said his chances of holding onto the final seat are “tight”.
Mr Donnelly is locked in a two-way race for the last seat in the four-seat constituency with Taoiseach Simon Harri’s Fine Gael running mate Edward Timmins.
“It’s going to be tight, obviously,” he said. “It was always going to come down to the last seat in Wicklow. We’ll see how things go.”
Both James Browne of Fianna Fáíl and Johnny Mythen of Sinn Féín have been elected in after exceeding the quota.
Labour's George Lawlor has taken the final seat in the constituency but failed to reach the quota.
The constituency is now complete.
The most recent elections in mean that we now have half of the 174 seats filled for the 34th Dáil.
The decimation of the Green Party is continuing.
Malcolm Noonan, a junior minister for the party, has lost his seat in .
In , Shonagh Ní Raghallaigh of Sinn Féín and Mark Wall of Labour have taken the final two seats in the four-seater constituency.
No further elected officials just yet but there is more bother for the Green Party.
Aontú’s Ellen Troy has jumped ahead of the party leader Roderic O’Gorman in the latest count, pushing him into sixth place and away from the much-coveted fifth seat in the constituency.
Ms Troy sits on 3,657.
People Before Profit's Ruth Coppinger is on 4,142, still a way off the quota of 7,373.
Mr O’Gorman, now in sixth place, has 3,491 votes.
Dramatic scenes in the RDS as Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch left the building after he failed to get elected in Dublin Central.
In , Sinn Féin's Pa Daly has taken the second of five seats to be elected.
While in , Timmy Dooley has returned to Dáil Eireann, with the 13th count taking him over the quota.
There's also a massive result in .
Rory Hearne of the Social Democrats has taken top billing, winning a seat in the constituency.
He's joined by sitting TDs Fianna Fáíl's Paul McAuliffe and Sinn Féin's Dessie Ellis.
Meanwhile, in , Sinn Féin's Darren O'Rourke has retained his seat.
He joins Justice Minister Helen McEntee in the constituency.
Gerry Hutch has been eliminated in the constituency as Labour's Marie Sherlock has claimed the final Dublin Central seat.
Mr Hutch ran out of the count centre shortly before it was confirmed that he had missed out on a seat. He ran through the car park of the RDS count centre being pursued by members of the media before turning onto the main road and continuing to run away.
Kieran O’Donnell has been elected in filling the second seat in the four-seater constituency. The Fine Gael TD won re-election with 8,755 votes.
Maurice Quinlivan of Sinn Féin, who topped the poll in the constituency last year, must wait a little longer to cross the line; he is 88 votes shy of being re-elected.
The vote in Limerick County has been completed, with the full details available on the Irish Examiner's Election Results Hub.
has chosen its three TDs for the 34th Dáíl, re-electing Michael Fitzmaurice yesterday, after topping the poll. He was joined this afternoon by Claire Kerrane and Dr Martin Daly to the second and third seats respectively. Dr Daly was elected without reaching the quota.
The final two seats were filled shortly after 3pm.
Meanwhile, in the capital, Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan has been elected in
in the 10th count with significant transfers of 2,370 votes from Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan’s surplus.
3.20pm
Sinn Féin has requested a partial recheck of votes for outgoing TD Martin Browne.
The party want a check done on his votes in the constituency and they also want a check done on votes for his nearest rival, independent Seamus Healy.
The call was made after the redistribution of votes for count four, which left Mr Browne with the lowest number of votes out of the four remaining candidates.
He has 6,237, and Mr Healy has 79 more, with 6,316.
A party official said Sinn Féin had requested the partial recheck of votes between the two men and that "we have reserved our position in terms of any other requests".
This could mean they could go for a full recount of votes, however, there is no guarantee they will get it.
Michael Murphy, who is expected to be the second TD elected for the constituency, has 10,056 votes while Fianna Fail’s Imelda Goldsboro, the other contender for the third seat, has 7,271.
As a result of the fourth count, Mr Brown has been eliminated, pending the outcome of the partial recheck.
Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch has arrived at the RDS where he looks unlikely to take the final seat in .
Speaking briefly to reporters, Mr Hutch said he believed he had achieved the large vote because people want to change.
When asked by RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds to comment on a Special Criminal Court case, he said the reporter was "like a dying wasp".
Sinn Féin’s Seán Crowe has become the first TD to be elected in the constituency.
Mr Crowe, who has been a TD for the area since 2002, with the exception of the period between 2007 and 2011, was elected on the sixth count following the elimination of the Social Democrats candidate Ross O’Mullane.
In 2020 Mr Crowe was elected on the first count with almost 30 per cent of the first preference vote.
Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe, who won the third of four seats in , said that the election results show that the “centre has held up in Irish politics”.
However, on government formation, Mr Donohoe would not be drawn on a rotating taoiseach arrangement, saying that this would be worked out in the process of coalition negotiations.
“We have to see who else will be elected. Let’s see who the bigger party is when all the seats are filled,” Mr Donohoe said.
While Mr Donohoe said there is a “chance” a government could be formed before Christmas, he believes the more important objective is ensuring that a lasting coalition is formed.
2.50pm
Sinn Féin's Mark Ward has been elected in on the ninth count. He is the second TD home after his party colleague Eoin Ó Broin who was elected on the first count on Saturday in the five-seat constituency.
Fine Gael minister Paschal Donohoe has been elected in , filling the third of four seats in the constituency.
The remaining seat is a battle between Gerry Hutch and Labour's Marie Sherlock. Mr Hutch is on 5,194 votes — just 124 votes ahead of Ms Sherlock.
With Mr Donohoe having a surplus of 1,518 votes, this should put Ms Sherlock well ahead of Mr Hutch to give her the final seat.
Across the country, in Sinn Féin's Louis O’Hara and Fine Gael's Pete Roche have taken the final two of the four seats in the constituency.
Results are continuing to roll in, this time from where two people have been elected. Fine Gael's Alan Dillion and Fianna Fáil's Dara Calleary have both won seats in the five-seater after the eighth count.
Elsewhere, Cathal Berry has lost his seat in Kildare North. The Independent TD was eliminated on the 10th count.
Back to , and Labour's Marie Sherlock has gained significant ground and is closing in on Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch.
It is now predicted that there may be the slimmest of margins between the two candidates who will be battling it out for the final seat in the four-seat constituency.
Mr Hutch had gained a 2,000 vote lead on Ms Sherlock, however, there are now just 482 votes between them after the surplus of newly elected Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon was distributed.
It is expected that Fianna Fáil's Mary Fitzpatrick will be eliminated next, with her transfers pushing Fine Gaels' Paschal Donohoe over the line to take the third seat.
Labour supporters in the count centre at the RDS are now feeling increasingly confident that Mr Donohoe's surplus could then elect Ms Sherlock.
However, it could be the slimmest of margins. After being elected in Dublin Bay South, Labour leader Ivana Bacik said Ms Sherlock is "fighting valiantly".
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll and was elected last night.
Political editor Elaine Loughlin gives an update from the RDS in Dublin.
Another big name is gone, this time in . Independent 4 Change candidate Mick Wallace has been eliminated on the eighth count in the four-seat constituency.
The former TD and former MEP had said he would not be at the count today in Loreto Secondary School. He is in Italy for a fundraiser in memory of his son who passed away in June.
His bid to return to the Dail failed when he received a total of 2,420 votes which will now be distributed among the remaining candidates.
His return to Irish politics backfired after his old vote in Wexford collapsed in comparison to when he last stood in the county in 2016.
At the time he got 7,917 votes with an 11% share of the vote, he left his seat to be elected to the European Parliament in 2019. He lost his seat in June
Elsewhere, in , Fine Gael's James Geoghegan and Labour leader Ivana Bacik were both elected on the ninth count.
Speaking after her election, Ms Bacik reiterated that she would first speak to both the Greens and Social Democrats to attempt to establish a central-left bloc to go into wider government negotiations.
“I’ve said consistently that we are serious about delivering change, that we want to offer people and communities the change that is so badly needed,” Ms Bacik said.
“We are serious about doing that and that’s why I have said consistently that after the election, after we know the shape of the next Dáil, the first people we will speak to will be those other parties and groupings who share our vision, our centre-left vision and our values.”
The Labour leader said that her party had seen “significant gains” and that they would be re-entering the Dáil with a bigger parliamentary party. Asked directly if Labour would go in with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil alone, Ms Bacik declined to say and reiterated her plans for a centre-left bloc.
In the closely watched constituency, Gary Gannon has gotten over the line for the Social Democrats having exceeded the quota.
Mr Gannon passed out Fine Gael's Paschal Donohoe to take the second seat in the four-seater, after Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was elected on Saturday night.
Speaking after his election, Mr Gannon said his party wants to go into government, but the Social Democrats had key red lines that needed to be adhered to.
"We've made our red lines really clear right from the start, if the other party leaders want to talk about living up to them - of course we'll talk," Mr Gannon said.
"For the moment, we're just really proud of what we've done with the Social Democrats."
Asked, given the Green wipeout, if he was worried about the impact of the Social Democrats going into government, Mr Gannon said it is the least of his concerns.
Mr Gannon said that change will be carried out through implementing policy and passing budgets.
"The housing crisis is not inevitable. It can't be seen as that so we need people of conviction, politicians who have lived experienced, who were politicised by poverty, will actually stand up and actually say that this is the difference that we can make," he added.
Meanwhile, Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch is still in contention for the final seat in the constituency. He has 5,021 votes after eight counts — just over 1,100 votes ahead of Labour's Marie Sherlock who is currently in fifth.
Brian Stanley, the former Sinn Féin TD, has been elected in Laois. The now Independent was elected on count 8. He took the last of three seats in Laois with the count now complete.
A full breakdown or results in the constituency can be found here.
A second count has been completed in , and Michael Healy Rae is still the only TD to have gotten over the line.
His massive surplus of 5,513 has just taken place with brother Danny Healy Rae receiving just under half his number twos, bringing Danny to 11,236, still off the quota of 13,083.
Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly is now at 12,272 and is leading the pack. The gap between Fianna Fail’s Michael Cahill and Fine Gael’s Billy O’Shea has stretched with Mr O’Shea now 486 votes behind.
Two candidates have been eliminated in count two — independents Mary Fitzgibbon and John O’Leary and their combined vote of 543 is now being distributed in Killarney.
Fianna Fáil's Lisa Chambers has been eliminated on the seventh count in Mayo. The Senator lost her Dáil seat in 2020 and failed to regain it this time around.
She was eliminated with 6,706 votes, with the surplus being 11,812.
Another big name eliminated, this time in . Independent candidate and former Fine Gael minister Alan Shatter has lost his seat on the fifth count.
First elected in 1981, the 73-year-old was a Fine Gael TD for 30 years, during which he served as minister for justice and minister for defence.
Running as an independent this time around, Mr Shatter’s campaign largely focused on the abolition of inheritance tax.
He finished with 1,925 votes.
Junior minister Anne Rabbitte has been eliminated on the ninth count in , in what will come as a blow to Fianna Fáíl.
The outgoing Minister of State for Disabilities was widely expected to retain her seat and has held a high profile since her election to the Dáil in 2016.
The result confirms that three of the four seats in Galway East will be occupied by new faces. Ms Rabbitte’s party colleague, Albert Dolan, was elected this morning after longstanding independent TD Seán Canney became the first candidate to meet the quota.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has been elected for Fianna Fáil in Fingal East.
Mattie McGrath has been elected in on the second count.
He said he hopes the Rural Independents Group of TDs who get elected will “talk to anybody who wants to talk to us” about the next Programme for Government.
“I’m delighted that all that hard work by my team, my office and myself has paid off," he said.
“There is no replacement for hard work. Hopefully all of my colleagues in the Rural Independents group will get back in and we look forward to talks for the Programme for Government.”
Counting has also resumed in Tipperary. The surplus from Michael Lowry — who was elected to last night — has yet to be distributed. Labour's Alan Kelly is expected to get the second of the constituency’s three seats.
The fight for the third seat is between Fianna Fail candidates Ryan O’Meara and Michael Smith.
Independent Gavin Pepper has been eliminated on the sixth count in
Mr Pepper had been lamenting earlier this week that he still hadn’t put up his Christmas decorations and chose to go and buy his Christmas tree on Saturday instead of going to the count centre.
And we are off again in Fingal.
After the sixth count in , which saw the elimination of his running mate, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien of Fianna Fáil is about 60 votes shy of the quota.
In neighbouring a recount is likely following the elimination late last night of Lorraine Clifford Lee of Fianna Fáil. She was fewer than 40 votes behind independent Tony Murphy.
Counting has resumed in where Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is battling to hold onto his seat.
A tight race is unfolding for the final spot in the four-seat constituency between Donnelly (3,553 votes), Independent candidate and former Fine Gael Cllr Shay Cullen (3,232) and Fine Gael’s Cllr Edward Timmins (3,050).
Bray-based Sinn Féin TD John Brady and Delgany-based Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore both look set to retain their seats.
A 5,000-plus surplus for Taoiseach Simon Harris - who was elected on the first count at 9.30pm on Saturday - is being counted this morning.
These transfers will play a key role in deciding where the final seat goes.
If party loyalty holds firm, Harris’s running mate Edward Timmins looks set to benefit most. Sample tallies indicate that as many as 40 per cent of his transfers will go to the west Wicklow based councillor.
Harris said on Saturday night he was “cautiously optimistic” that Timmins will get over the line.
However, tallies indicate that a smaller but significant proportion of Harris’s transfers - about 10 per cent - will go to Donnelly, who is also based in the Taoiseach’s hometown of Greystones.
Newtownmountkennedy-based Cllr Shay Cullen, meanwhile - formerly of Fine Gael - is expected to attract transfers from a range of candidates.
Party and regional loyalties will all have a role to play in determining where the final seat goes.
Most seasoned election observers, however, see Timmins as favourite to take a second seat for Fine Gael at the expense of Stephen Donnelly.
Counting has resumed for day 2 in numerous centres across the country this morning.
In , counting began after a lecture was delivered to count staff, instructing them not to engage in social media while they are involved in the counting process.
There was plenty of action across the country throughout Saturday, with many count centres running late into the night before TDs reached their respective quotas.
See the full list of TDs who have been elected so far at the Irish Examiner Results Hub.
Mattie McGrath is expected to be the next TD to be elected in
He topped the poll in Tipperary South but was just shy of the votes he needed to reach the quota.
At the Thurles count centre, he, along with the rest of the Rural Independents Group of TDs, said they will "talk to anybody who wants to talk to us” about the next Programme for Government.
“I’m delighted that all that hard work by my team, my office and myself has paid off," he said.
“There is no replacement for hard work.
“Hopefully all of my colleagues in the Rural Independents group will get back in and we look forward to talks for the Programme for Government.” Michael Lowry was the first TD to be elected, topping the poll last night in Tipperary North.
Counting is due to resume at 9.30am.
