Mr Kelly remained tight-lipped at the count centre and refused to comment on any Ireland South outcomes until the first count was announced.

However, he said the lesson to be taken from the Local Government and European Parliament elections is that Irish voters reward those “who work hard for them.”

Mr Kelly is poised to take a Euro berth for Fine Gael – and secure his fourth term as an MEP having been first elected in 2009.

He is polling slightly ahead of Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher who is also set to retain his MEP berth.

Mr Kelleher, a former Junior Minister and Cork-based farmer, insisted at the Nemo Rangers GAA club count centre that the polls were a clear signal that Irish voters wanted to support centrist parties and politics.

A battle royale is expected for the remaining three seats between Independents Michael McNamara and Mick Wallace, Sinn Fein’s Kathleen Funchion and outgoing Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan.

Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour also insisted that their candidates, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, John Mullins and Niamh Hourigan, could also be in contention depending on late round transfers.

Elections 2024: Second day of the count kicks off

Ms O’Sullivan, who was first elected in 2019, admitted on Sunday that she felt the “tide was going out for her” in terms of her re-election chances.

But Green Party officials were cheered later with indications her first preference vote will be stronger than anticipated while she is also attracting positive transfers.

A key aspect of the ballot so far has been the strong transfers between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil candidates, particularly Mr Kelly and Mr Kelleher.

With a population of over 1.8 million and an electorate of 1.34 million, the Ireland South constituency sprawls from Bray to Dingle.

A total of 250 staff are handling the count though extra staff will attend the Nemo Rangers GAA count centre from Monday to assist with calculating transfers, a challenging task given the number of candidates and volume of votes.

Incredibly, the estimated total weight of the ballot papers, which featured 23 candidates, is over five metric tonnes.

Ireland South is composed of all Munster counties as well as four counties in Leinster.

Returning Officer Martin Harvey said the count could conclude on Tuesday.