7.30am
Counting in each of the three constituencies for the European elections is due to continue on Monday.
The count for Dublin will resume at 10am, while the sorting of ballots in Ireland South will get back underway from 9am, with a first count expected to begin at around lunchtime.
In Limerick, the counting of ballots to decide the first directly-elected mayor in the State is also set to commence at 9am.
10.45pm
Returning to the local elections, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael remain neck in neck for the overall share of the local vote on 23 per cent.
In Kilkenny, the country’s longest serving female councillor has been re-elected. Fine Gael’s Mary Hilda Cavanagh has been a councillor for 50 years.
In Galway City, Labour’s Helen Ogbu has taken a seat becoming the first black woman ever elected there.
All candidates have been selected in some counties, including Clare and Leitrim, while Laois has not yet elected anyone.
There has been some drama in Mayo in the past hour after a full recount for Swinford was ordered.
Elsewhere, in Fingal, there are recounts in three LEAs, while in Wexford, there will be a full recount tomorrow in Gorey, Rosslare and Enniscorthy. However, it is hoped all seats should be filled by Monday evening.
For a full view of the Dublin local election vote, take a look at our results map.
10.25pm
The first count in Dublin’s European constituency has been concluded, with no candidate reaching the quota of 75,345 but Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty have a clear lead to take the first seats with 62,147 and 61,344 respectively. Both are well ahead of the rest of the pack, with the nearest rival being Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan on 35,431.
She is closely followed by the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe on 32,204, Labour’s Aodhan Ó Ríordáin on 30,733, and Independent Ireland’s Niall Boylan on 30,637. Next up is the Independent 4 Change MEP Clare Daly on 26,855 and PBP-Solidarity candidate Brid Smith on 21,577.
The count has been adjourned until 10am Monday morning.
Elsewhere, the count in Midlands North-West has been adjourned for the night and will resume on Monday morning when the first count is expected.
10.05pm
Here’s where things stand in the local elections as the second day of vote counting approaches the end of the day.
9.10pm
Fianna Fáil is “in the mix” for two seats in Midlands-North-West, a party candidate has said.
However, the latest news from the count centre is that there won’t be a first count in the constituency until tomorrow evening, while a final result may not happen until Wednesday night.
Lisa Chambers said she was confident that Barry Cowen will “comfortably” take a seat for Fianna Fáil, adding she herself was also “in the mix” for the fifth and final spot against Sinn Féin candidates and Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry.
Fianna Fáil candidate Lisa Chambers at TF Royal Theatre in Castlebar. Photo: Niall Carson/PA
Asked about her concerns about the public row between the Fianna Fáil candidates, she added: “I’m not really concerned because what’s done is done.”
She added: “I’ll be honest, I thought two candidates was the right strategy.”
However, she said she had to trust the decision of the party strategists.
8.40pm
Independent Ireland’s Niall Boylan is “hopeful” he will take the third or fourth seat in Dublin in the European elections.
The former radio presenter appears to be in contention for a seat following strong polling in parts of Dublin.
Mr Boylan said he would prefer to take the third seat to avoid a long and “nervous” wait.
Niall Boylan at the RDS in Dublin today. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins
Two candidates, sitting Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews and Fine Gael Senator Regina Doherty, are expected to comfortably win a seat each.
A first count announcement will not take place until after 10pm at the RDS on Sunday because other European countries are still casting their votes.
However, it is understood that no candidate will meet the quota on the first round in Dublin.
8.20pm
French president Emmanuel Macron has said he is dissolving parliament and is calling for new elections following the performance of the far-right National Rally in the European elections.
He has called for parliamentary elections to be held on June 30th and July 7th.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen welcomed the news.
“We are ready to take over the power if the French give us their trust in the upcoming national elections,” she said during a rally.
Led by telegenic 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, the National Rally won around 32 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s vote, more than double Macron ticket’s 15 per cent, according to the first exit polls.
7.50pm
Some Europe-wide exit polls have been released that show far-right parties making big gains in the European Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Greens took a major hit in the European elections, according to a first projection provided by the EU.
The estimates aggregated by the EU Parliament are based on exit polls or other survey data, along with projections that may include some partial election returns.
The two mainstream and pro-European groups, the conservatives and the socialists, lost a few seats but remained the dominant forces.
The Greens were expected to lose about 20 seats.
We’ll have more here as results start to come in across the EU.
7.05pm
There is optimism there could be more than one count in the RDS for the Dublin European Parliament constituency tonight.
However, it could be Tuesday before all is said and done.
Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty are expected to top the poll but one staffer told Newstalk that neither are expected to hit a quota.
After that Independent Ireland’s Niall Boylan, Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin of Labour have emerged as being in the battle to take up the third and fourth spots.
Ciarán Cuffe of the Greens and Independent Clare Daly, both outgoing MEPs, face a real battle to keep their seats.
6.10pm
The Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan has said “it feels like it’s slipping away” in keeping her MEP seat in Ireland South, though she added that she was still hopeful of transfers.
The Waterford native said “there is a lot of shifting sands” after the election results, and said it was possible that Taoiseach Simon Harris would call an early election. “Things have shifted in people’s minds, so I’ve come up here to Cork and I’m getting a sense that the tide is going out in a way.”
She said over the past five years she had “worked hard” but said that people “have other things on their mind”, including housing, migration and the cost of living.
Green Party incumbent MEP Grace O’Sullivan at the count centre in Cork. Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA
Asked about the Green Party’s performance in the local elections, she said: “I’m really disappointed to be honest, we had local councillors who will lose their seats and they have been really good performers. But at the end of the day it’s democracy, the people who decide and this is what people want.”
She added: “I just think with the climate crisis, we face this existential crisis, the situation in terms of biodiversity loss, that whole Nature Restoration Law is very, very challenging.
“We’re going to have to decide for ourselves as a nation what way we’re going to go: do we want to have liveable clean water, clean air or are we just going to sit back and let it all wash over us.”
5.35pm
Anti-immigration activist Malachy Steenson has been elected in the North Inner City, becoming the first far-right councillor elected to Dublin City Council.
According to The Irish Times, Steenson’s supporters hoisted him up and declared him elected shortly after 3pm on Sunday, posting the same across social media.
However, he hadn’t been elected at that point. It was not until more than an hour and a half later that he was elected to represent the North Inner City area on the 12th count.
Check out our dedicated results page for Dublin City Council to get the latest.
5.15pm
Taoiseach Simon Harris visited the count centre in Dublin this evening and spoke to the media about the election results.
He said the public had made clear who they want to be in local government, adding that Fine Gael had received the backing of communities.
Mr Harris said the Irish public didn’t want to “buy what Sinn Féin were selling”.
Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris speaking to the media at the RDS in Dublin. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins
“It’s for Sinn Féin to speak for themselves, it’s for Sinn Féin to carry out all of the reviews that they wish to do,” the Fine Gael leader added. “I think there’s just two things that I took from the leader of the opposition’s [Mary Lou McDonald] comments today.
“Firstly, that the penny has now dropped, that if you want to lead government you have to have solutions and policies. I thought that was quite interesting, that the leader of Sinn Féin said ‘maybe we need to develop a new policies and be a bit clearer on what the policy solutions are’.
“Six years as leader of her party, two local elections she has led her party through. I welcome the fact that there’s a realisation that politics isn’t just about highlighting challenges but is about coming up with solutions. The second thing I think though, which was rather unedifying today, and quite insulting to the Irish people, is to try and second guess them.
“I was very disappointed to hear her comments in relation to, ‘maybe the people on this occasion didn’t really understand this’. The people of this country are sovereign.
“As I travelled around the country, I think the people knew exactly what Sinn Féin were selling, and they just didn’t want to buy it.”
The Taoiseach also said he had not changed his mind about calling a general election.
Mr Harris previously made clear he would like to see the Government run its full term into next year.
4.50pm
Twelve candidates have so far been elected to Wexford County Council.
Four seats have gone to Fianna Fáil, two to Fine Gael, four to Independent candidates, and one each to Aontú and the Labour Party.
Independent councillor Leonard Kelly has been re-elected, and said voters are less concerned with party politics when it comes to local elections.
“What people appreciate is someone who’s on the ground, who’s getting work done for them, who is approachable, and who is someone they can relate to,” he told Newstalk.
For the latest details on the votes in Wexford, visit our dedicated results page.
4.20pm
It is now almost certain that the first count in the Ireland South constituency won’t be confirmed until Monday.
Around 250 staff began sorting almost 715,000 ballot papers for the 10-county constituency at Nemo Rangers GAA Club in Cork this morning.
Twenty-three candidates are fighting for five seats in the European Parliament and no official tallies are being taken at the count centre.
Returning officer Martin Harvey said staff would be working until 11pm tonight, but the first count will likely be announced on Monday morning.
As the ballot papers are quite long, an initial sorting through took place this morning to put the papers with a vote on the top half in one pile and ballots with a vote on the bottom half in another.
There have been very few ballots with numbered preferences all the way down, with many voters numbering their preferences up to 5 at the most.
One ballot paper seen gave Billy Kelleher a ’20’ with no other preferences, while another ballot had a Star of David drawn in the middle.
4.05pm
Baby Pereppadan of Fine Gael has been elected to South Dublin County Council after the fifth count in the Tallaght South LEA.
3.30pm
More from the Midlands–North-West European constituency amid growing speculation that it could go to a recount.
The Mayo TD for Fine Gael Michael Ring said he was “very hopeful” the party could secure two seats.
Asked about anecdotal evidence that transfers were not always staying within Fine Gael, Mr Ring said there was no question that some voters were “thinking local”.
Fine Gael TD Michael Ring at TF Royal Theatre in Castlebar. Photo: Niall Carson/PA
Mr Ring also criticised the length of the ballot paper.
“It was like a toilet roll, so it was. It was a disgrace.
“Democracy is democracy, but by God – one man said to me he’d need help to lift it. It was crazy.”
3.05pm
The Minister for Housing has said Sinn Féin will not be satisfied with its electoral performance.
Darragh O’Brien told RTÉ radio that “this was a party that was apparently just going to waltz into Government”.
“It’s obviously clear that we’ve parts of the country where they’re in single digits, Dublin probably at 11 [or] 12 per cent. They can’t be satisfied with that performance,” he said.
“Of course, they’ll make gains because they’re coming from a very low base of about 9 per cent.
“I don’t think the main opposition party can be satisfied with a gain like that.”
Read more: Sinn Féin will not be satisfied with electoral performance
2.20pm
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said “it hasn’t been our day” and she is “sorry that we didn’t do better” after a lacklustre performance for the party in the local elections.
Thanking Sinn Féin’s candidates while speaking at the RDS centre in Dublin, she said “obviously, we are disappointed that we didn’t manage to get more of them elected”.
“We have made some gains, they are modest, but they’re there. It hasn’t been our day. Clearly frustrations – anger indeed – with Government policy on this occasion has translated into votes for independents and others.
Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS in Dublin today. Photo: Damien Storan/PA
“We have to now prepare ourselves for the general election, whenever that will happen. We’ll take time to reflect.
“We’ve literally been on thousands, probably tens of thousands of doorsteps over the last number of weeks. We’ve listened very carefully to people.
“We now need to go and reflect on that, we need to learn from it. We will regroup. I am sorry that we didn’t do better.
“I know that we can do better and I am determined that we will do better.”
12.40pm
The possibility of potential recounts in Midlands–North-West has already been raised by a leading candidate in the constituency.
Luke “Ming” Flanagan said: “There are quite a lot of candidates here who are going to get a significant amount of votes and I think it’s nearly odds on that we’re going to have some sort of a recount – and potentially a recount at the end because I think it’s going to be close.
“So I predict – all I know is we booked a place to stay for the next week in Castlebar.”
12.20pm
The Finance Minister’s brother and a Tipperary TD’s daughter were among the first batch of councillors elected to local authorities around the country.
With more than 200 candidates elected out of 949, the rough outline indicates Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil holding steady, while Sinn Féin has not made the gains they had hoped for.
One of Fianna Fáil’s candidates in Dublin’s North Inner City area, Caio Benicio, the Brazilian delivery driver who intervened in the Parnell Square attack last November, will not win a seat.
He won just 3 per cent of first preference votes and was one of three Fianna Fáil candidates in the area.
Counting continues at TF Royal Theatre in Castlebar for the Midlands-North-West constituency in the European elections.
11.50am
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are in a straight shoot out to be the largest party in local government after this weekend, Newstalk political correspondent Seán Defoe reports.
There has been 30 extra council seats filled in the last two hours as counting across the country resumed.
A clear trend is emerging with Fine Gael leading the vote totals on over 24 per cent and Fianna Fál not far behind at over 23 per cent of the vote.
The story has been the collapse of the Sinn Féin vote. While still ahead of its 2019 result, a vote share of 11.4 per cent so far is still far behind where the party has been polling over the last four years.
One in five voters look to have opted for Independents.
The smaller centre-left parties have performed better than expected.
It’ll be a few hours before we have a better sense of the European election results, though each constituency will likely elect a Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independent candidate. Sinn Féin will take seats, but how many is now a very open question.
10.30am
The Returning Officer at the Ireland South count centre has said he doesn’t expect the first count to be completed until very late tonight or tomorrow morning.
Two hundred and fifty staff are currently sorting around 715,000 European election ballot papers this morning before the count begins.
Invalid and spoilt papers will be bundled together and reviewed by candidates and count centre staff at around 9pm,. However, it may be later.
9.57am
Counting is underway in the RDS Simmonscourt for the Dublin European Parliament constituency.
It looks like there will be a fight for one, possibly two seats.
Regina Doherty of Fine Gael and Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil are expected to take up two seats in Dublin, after partial tallies showed trends of both parties picking up votes across the county.
Niall Boylan is also showing well and will be in the mix for a seat.
After that, Sinn Féin’s local election performance in Dublin will be of huge concern as they ran both Lynn Boylan and Daithi Doolan.
Labour were in an optimistic mood and tallies show good first preferences for Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. Incumbent MEPs Ciarán Cuffe and Clare Daly are in danger of losing their seats.
One to watch though could be Brid Smyth of People Before Profit. Partial tallies looked decent for her and the party itself has had a good local election campaign in Dublin.
All that said, there is no tally being conducted this morning, so the full picture is far from clear.
8.20am
The story of the local elections has been the Government parties doing much better than expected, the Independents polling very well and Sinn Féin having a disappointing run
Today all eyes will be on the European elections with 14 seats up for grabs.
In Dublin, tallies indicate Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty will get the first two seats and Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan could get the third.
But it will be a dog fight for the final one with between Niall Boylan, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Ciarán Cuffe, Brid Smith and Clare Daly all in the mix.
In Midlands–North-West, the limited tallies suggest sitting MEPs Luke Ming Flanagan and Maria Walsh are doing well – along with Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen and former broadcaster Ciaran Mullooly.
While in Ireland South, early indications are Billy Kelleher and Michael McNamara are performing strongly.
Official counting for the mayor elections in Limerick doesn’t begin until Monday, but tallies show John Moran out in a comfortable lead followed by Helen O’Donnell.
