The 33rd Dáil is taking shape as the first counts have been completed in all 39 constituencies across the country.
This election is all about Sinn Féin and 16 of the first 20 candidates across the line were from the party.
Highlights:
- 65 TDs have been elected out of a total of 160 after the first counts in all 39 constituencies
- Sinn Féin has secured the highest percentage of first preference votes with party leader Mary Lou McDonald, housing spokesperson Eoin O'Broin, spokesperson on finance Pearse Doherty and health spokesperson Louise O'Reilly elected
- Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar was elected after the fifth count in Dublin West, while Tánaiste Simon Coveney was deemed elected after the eighth count in Cork South-Central
- Also in Cork South-Central, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was elected after the sixth count
- Green Party leader Eamon Ryan topped the poll in Dublin Bay South, with deputy leader Catherine Martin elected in Dublin Rathdown and Ossian Smyth topping the poll in Dún Laoghaire
- Richard Boyd Barrett and Bríd Smith of Solidarity–People Before Profit were elected in Dún Laoghaire and Dublin South-Central, respectively
- Aontú leader Peadar Toibín has been elected in Meath West
- In Kildare North, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy has been elected
- Five Independent candidates have been elected, including Michael Lowry in Tipperary and Michael Healy Rae in Kerry
.@sinnfeinireland @Donnchadhol elected on first count in #CorkSouthCentral #CorkSC #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/8aZtU5N16W
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was elected after the sixth count with 11,505 votes in the Cork South-Central constituency.
His running mate and the party's finance spokesperson Michael McGrath was elected after the eighth count.
Anne Rabbitte (Galway East) Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West) and Michael Moynihan (Cork North West) were also elected as Fianna Fáil TDs.
Jack Chambers in Dublin West and as Cormac Devlin in Dún Laoghaire were also successful for the party.
In Limerick, Niall Collins in Limerick County was elected, as was Niall Collins in Limerick West.
Willie O'Dea was also returned as a TD for the party in Limerick City, as was Thomas Byrne in Meath East.
ELECTED: @jackfchambers @fiannafail - #DublinW #Dublinwest #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/VLHIXFSfPO
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Fine Gael
In Dublin West, Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar was elected after the sixth count.
Paul Donnelly of Sinn Féin topped the poll after he received 12,456 votes, well ahead of the quota of 8,726.
In Cork South-Central, after the eighth count, the Tánaiste Simon Coveney was the third candidate to be elected.
ELECTED: @simoncoveney @FineGael #CorkSouthCentral #CorkSC #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/By5jwUR2HB
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Fine Gael's Michael Ring was the first candidate from his party to be elected after he topped the poll in Mayo with 14,796 votes.
Outgoing ministers Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown) and Heather Humphries (Cavan-Monaghan) were both returned as TDs.
The party secured two out of three seats in Dublin Rathdown after Neale Richmond was also elected.
European Affairs minister Helen McIntee was elected in Meath East after the seventh count.
Ciaran Cannon was then elected for the party in Galway East, as was Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed in Cork North West and Damien English in Meath West.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeillin was elected in Dún Laoghaire, with outgoing minister Regina Doherty losing out.
Patrick O’Donovan was also elected in Limerick County.
ELECTED: @ciarancannon @FineGael #GalwayEast #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/0skp1AXE3f
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was elected in Dublin Central with 11,223 votes, almost double the quota.
Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire was the first TD to be elected after he topped the poll in Cork South-Central.
Mr Ó Laoghaire well exceeded the quota with 14,057 votes after the first count.
Elsewhere, Sinn Féin's prominent spokespeople were elected as the day progressed.
Housing spokesperson Eoin O'Broin claimed the first seat in Dublin Midwest, while Mark Ward was elected for the party on the second count.
The party's spokesperson on health Louise O'Reilly topped the poll in Dublin Fingal.
Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty was elected in Donegal along with Padraig MacLaughlin.
Matt Carthy, formerly an MEP, topped the poll in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency.
ELECTED: @mattcarthy @sinnfeinireland#CavanMonaghan #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/cNVIAdh8BC
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Johnny Guirke also topped the poll in Meath West with over 30% of the vote.
He got over 12,000 votes in the first count, leaving a surplus of around 2,300.
In Dublin South Central, there was a similar Sinn Féin surge with Aengus Ó Snodaigh topping the poll with nearly double the quote of 17,015 votes.
ELECTED: @aosnodaigh @sinnfeinireland #Dublinsouthcentral #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/95e4rBQjtW
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
In Wexford, Sinn Féin's Johnny Mythen was elected after the first count, as was Dessie Ellis who took a seat for the party in Dublin North West.
Kathleen Funchion was elected as a Sinn Féin TD in Carlow-Kilkenny, while Pat Buckley also topped the poll in Cork East.
Across the city, their fellow party member Thomas Gould was deemed elected in Cork North Central.
David Cullinane was also elected in Waterford, as was Brian Stanley in Laois-Offaly.
Sinn Féin's Sean Crowe and Rose Conway-Walsh were elected in Dublin South-West and Mayo, respectively.
In Louth, both Sinn Féin's Imelda Munster and Ruairí Ó Murchú have been elected for the party.
Darren O'Rourke was elected in Meath East, as was Maurice Quinlivan in Limerick City, both from Sinn Féin.
Party candidates Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North), John Brady (Wicklow), and Martin Kenny (Sligo–Leitrim) were all elected.
Pa Daly was elected for the party in Kerry, as was Sorcha Clarke who topped the poll in Longford- Westmeath.
ELECTED: @EOBroin celebrating being elected on the first count in #DublinMidWest@sinnfeinireland#GE2020 pic.twitter.com/DFyrQCW9nB
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Green Party
The Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has retained his seat in Dublin Bay South.
He is the fifth TD to join the 33rd Dáil after he received 8,888 votes after the first count.
Deputy Green Party leader Catherine Martin also topped the poll in her constituency in Dublin Rathdown.
She was elected after the fifth count with 11,444 votes.
The outgoing Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross lost his seat in the constituency.
The Green Party's Ossian Smyth also received the most votes in his constituency of Dún Laoghaire.
In Dublin-West, Roderick O'Gorman was also elected for the party.
.@EamonRyan celebrates getting elected in #DublinBaySouth. #GE2020 @greenparty_ie pic.twitter.com/NjQxJvicLy
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
Independents and others
Richard Boyd Barrett of Solidarity–People Before Profit was deemed elected in Dún Laoghaire, as was his fellow party member Bríd Smith in Dublin South-Central.
Independent candidate Michael Lowry was elected on the first count in Tipperary with 14,802 votes.
Marese Skehan, who passed away last week, received 182 votes after the first count in the constituency.
Michael Healy Rae also topped the poll as an Independent in Kerry.
Elsewhere, Independent candidates Michael Collins and Michael Fitzmaurice were deemed elected in Cork South West and in Roscommon-Galway, respectively.
Sean Canney was also elected as an Independent in Galway East.
Aontú leader Peadar Toibín was elected for his party in Meath West.
ELECTED: @Michael_Lowry #tipperary #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/sE5T5D8daI
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 9, 2020
The attention has turned to government formation as we start to see an idea of the numbers.
Mary Lou McDonald has started talking to smaller parties about forming a government without Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.
