CAMPAIGNING IS OVER and votes have been cast.
After several weeks of campaigning in the four Dáil by-elections, counting will begin this morning.
There has been ongoing speculation about the final results ever since four TDs were elected to the European parliament in May, triggering the by-elections.
In a Dáil session where every vote counts, and with an election on the horizon, all eyes will be on how Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil do over the next 24 hours.
It’s been a dramatic campaign, with both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates in Dublin criticised for previous remarks about Travellers.
One of the major stories of the campaign had been the pressure on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to remove Verona Murphy, the party’s candidate in Wexford, following controversial comments she made about refugees.
She also drew criticism after suggesting that the Road Safety Authority should be abolished.
The four constituencies are:
Counting
Counting votes will begin in all four by-election constituencies at 9am this morning.
With only one seat to fill in each constituency, counting is expected to be largely completed by Sunday morning.
However, it’s still hard to know when exactly we’ll have all the results, and timings will likely vary between each constituency.
Gardaí will be tasked with ensuring ballot boxes are safely escorted to count centres from the various polling stations.
Dublin
Counting in the two Dublin constituencies – Dublin Fingal and Dublin Mid-West – will begin at 9am at two separate count centres.
Dublin Mid-West counting will take place at the Adamstown Community Centre in Lucan, while counting in Dublin Fingal at the National Show Centre in Swords.
This is the first ever by-election in Dublin Fingal, which was created in 2016 and replaced Dublin North. It covers the largest geographic area of any Dublin constituency.
As for Dublin Mid-West, it’s also a relatively new constituency with little experience of by-elections.
In the last general election we got the first result in that constituency in the early afternoon on the first day of counting, while in Dublin Fingal in 2016 we had the first result in the early evening.
While count centre staff will, as usual, be aiming to get the votes counted as quickly as possible, there is no indication as of yet as to when the final result will be known.
Cork North Central
Counting will begin at the Nemo Rangers clubhouse at 9am. A few more staff than are normally drafted in for general elections have been recruited to help with the by-election.
At least some of the people at the count will also have first-hand experience of the dramatic recount that took place in the city during the European elections in May.
It’s understood that staff hope to have the count finished by 7pm at the latest, but aren’t making any firm predictions until turnout is known.
At the last election, the first result was announced at 6.30pm on the first day of counting.
You’d have to go back to 1994 for the last by-election in Cork North Central, when the former Labour TD Kathleen Lynch (then a Democratic Left candidate) took a seat in the constituency for the first time.
Wexford
Counting will take place in St Joseph’s Community Centre in Wexford town from 9am.
TheJournal.ie understands that staff aren’t expecting a result within the first 12 hours and that it may come in the early hours of Sunday morning.
This would match up with the timing of the first result in 2016.
TV and Radio Coverage
You’ll be able to follow all the action on TheJournal.ie tomorrow and over the weekend – we’ll be liveblogging all the action as soon as the first ballot boxes are opened.
There’ll also be a special edition of Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio One at 9am, as well as coverage on RTÉ One at 10am.
The RTÉ News Now channel will also have coverage throughout the day.
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