IT’S DAY TWO of the elections counts and results are coming in fast.
Count centres up and down the country are announcing newly elected councillors.
There is still a lot to get done, with hundreds of the 949 council seats to be filled.
As well as that, counting has kicked off at the three European count centres in Cork (for the Ireland South constituency), Castlebar (for Midlands North West) and Dublin, with a first official result due to be announced at 10pm.
It’s likely those counts will continue well into next week, however.
The official result of the divorce referendum was announced early this morning, with Ireland voting overwhelmingly in favour of changing references to divorce in the Constitution.
And to top it all off, ballots still have to be counted in the three directly elected mayor plebiscites in Cork, Limerick and Waterford, but that won’t happen until tomorrow.
Good morning, everyone!
Cormac Fitzgerald here to take you through the morning and afternoon of the second day of vote counting.
Some centres didn’t finish up until the small hours of the morning, and tired officials are just having their morning coffee and getting ready to go at it again, with hundreds of councillors still to be elected across the country.
As well as that counting will kick off this morning for the European Parliament, with the first results to be announced at 10pm tonight.
Ready? Let’s get started so!
Let’s have a quick catch up of where we are with everything so far.
The main news this morning is that Ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing references to divorce in the Constitution.
The final vote was 1,304,949 in favour of the changes (82.1%), with 284,735 against (17.9%). Yes took the day by a huge margin.
Want to know the state of play and who’s elected in your area? Check out our rolling list of who is elected where, which will be updated throughout the day (keep in mind there’s still a long way to go).
The story of the day yesterday was the Green Wave spreading across the country. The Green Party – with their clear environmental messaging – have hoovered up votes from all across the political spectrum. Here’s an early analysis on why that may have been.
The Greens success has been the other party’s failure, however. This is especially true of the far-left parties and Sinn Féin, who seem to have taken a hit.
Our political correspondent Christina Finn has a nice analysis on why anger around housing hasn’t translated into votes for these parties.
And they’re off!
Counting has officially started in the Midlands North West constituency for the European Parliament.
Tweets from the centre are showing a lot of ballots to be sorted.
The RTÉ exit poll for that constituency has Fine Gael’s sitting MEP Mairead McGuinness topping the poll by a wide margin.
After that, it’s all top play for between Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, newcomer Maria Walsh (for FG), Green Party’s Saoirse McHugh and sitting MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan. With Independent Peter Casey an outside chance.
Counting for the constituency is likely to go on for a few days as candidates battle it out.
If you want a reminder of who’s in with a shout for the European elections, the RTÉ/TG4 exit poll is probably still your best bet.
You can find our breakdown of the poll results here.
In Dublin, the Green Party’s Ciaran Cuffe (who has already been elected as councillor) is on 23%, with Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald on 14%. Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Independent TD Clare Daly are both on 12%. Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan is on 10%.
Things are not looking great for Lynn Boylan in what is shaping up to be a bad day at the polls for Sinn Féin.
In Ireland South Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly has topped the polls there on 16%. Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan is on 12%, putting her in fourth place, closely behind Sinn Féin’s Liadh Ní Riada (13%) and Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher (13%).
If the polls are accurate, Independent TD Mick Wallace will win the fifth and last seat in this constituency (the poll puts him on 10%).
But it is very much all to play for.
So, as already stated there’s an awful lot going on this morning, with counts kicking off again in earnest.
Our editor Christine Bohan has a nice breakdown here of what you can expect from the day.
As well as councillors being elected, we can also expect results from the European elections from 10pm – once other countries have finished up voting. From Christine:
Nothing can be announced until that time to ensure that voting has closed across the rest of Europe and cannot influence voters in other countries. However exit polls suggest that all three constituencies will see battles for the final seats, which will be dependent on how the transfers go from eliminated and elected candidates.
We can also expect to see results from the UK at 10pm, where the Brexit Party is expected to win a large number of seats at the expense of the Conservative Party.
Right and the counting has begun in earnest now in many areas.
Hundreds of councillors are still due to be elected, with some areas (here’s looking at you, Letterkenny) not even starting counting until today.
Here they are starting off in Cork city:
In Roscommon:
Meanwhile, count results are already being announced in some areas, such as Tallaght South:
Take if from me, it’s going to be a looooong day.
As the votes are being counted, let’s take a step back and look at the Divorce referendum results.
While it was expected that the Yes side would win the day, the final vote was 1,304,949 in favour of the changes (82.1%), with 284,735 against (17.9%).
That is a huge margin by any measure, especially when you remember that in 1995 the Yes side of Divorce referendum only passed by a whisker (the final result then being 50.28% Yes to 49.72% No).
How much has changed, eh?
Here’s Charlie Flanagan welcoming the Yes vote this morning:
“I would like to thank all those who supported this referendum proposal.
“I am very pleased that the proposal received such widespread support from the people of Ireland. This is a very decisive result with a consistent, high level of support right across the country.
The result is testament to the compassion and fairness of Irish people in every part of the country. The primary purpose of the referendum was to reduce the emotional and financial distress experienced by couples whose marriages have sadly broken down irretrievably by allowing the Oireachtas to legislate.
Is this the first candidate to be elected this morning?
The Labour Party’s Carrie Smyth has got through in the Killiney-Shankill area.
Una Power of the Green Party has also gone through.
Tánaiste Simon Coveney on RTÉ responding to the local and European election results.
Coveney says that government has a “very significant climate policy” coming down the road (that would be the all of government climate plan due to be published by government in the coming weeks).
Government is likely to ramp up its responses to climate change and biodiversity loss in response to the Green Party success (or, at least, it’s going talk about it a lot more).
But that will come with significant challenges, not least of all to Ireland’s agricultural sector, which is the single biggest contributors to Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The IFA is aware of its responsibilities in relation to climate change, just so long as that doesn’t affect growth of the sector (and farmers’ bottom line).
Coveney said that in relation to agriculture, farmers “everybody understands the responsibilities that they have” and that the country is “already seeing shifts in farming practice”.
He said that the sector can continue to see growth, while also reducing its carbon footprint.
“I think we can reduce our carbon footprint while also producing food more sustainably,” he said.
222 councillors elected across the country is the rolling tally so far.
Results coming in hard and fast from the different count centres.
Check out who’s elected where in our rolling councillors piece for the latest update.
Results coming in include Alan O’Callaghan of Fianna Fáil who has been elected on the sixth count in Killaloe.
We’ve got Cathy Bennett of Sinn Féin elected in Monaghan.
We’ve also got Councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice reelected to Roscommon County Council and the party is starting early, by the looks of things:
The European count for the Midlands North West constituency is well under way.
Readers may remember Tuesday night’s RTÉ debate, when the Green Party’s Saoirse McHugh (a political unknown before this campaign) took on Independent Peter Casey (who some people may remember from the presidential election last year).
“Millionaires blaming migrants is an old trope and it’s boring,” McHugh told Casey at one point, with perhaps the killer blow being when she told the former Dragon’s Den millionaire:
Go on Dancing With The Stars if you want attention that much, Peter.
Ouch
Well as things stand, McHugh could be well in to secure a seat in Europe, which would be a major upset. Things aren’t looking too good for Casey, but he’s certainly not out of the running just yet.
The two spoke again on RTÉ a few minutes ago. Casey – no doubt smarting a bit still from Tuesday night’s “trashing” – said if the Greens were “really sincere about the environment” they’d tell their members to stop using plastic bottles.
McHugh responded that the party had a waste reduction bill in front of government, and said that top down change was needed.
We need top down change there’s only so far guilt and personal responsibility can get us,” she said.
“Tell your members to stop drinking from plastic bottles,” Casey responded, and McHugh burst out laughing.
Certainly no love lost between the pair.
Just under 238 seats filled now in county and city councils across the country.
One notable result is Aoibhinn Tormey (FG) elected to Fingal county Council on third count for Howth-Malahide.
Astute readers might recognise Aoibhinn as the daughter of Dr Bill Tormey, a former multiple Fine Gael candidate for Dublin North West and a former Dublin city councillor.
Here’s a throwback for you for the day that’s in it.
Cast you memories back to 2015 just before the Marriage Equality referendum, when father and daughter went head to head over a No vote and a Yes vote.
Keep an eye on out on our reporter Kathleen McNamee, who is back for a second day in the Castlebar count centre.
Kathleen will be bringing you up to date coverage on the massive operation that is ballot counting for the Midlands North West constituency.
Safe to say that it’s going to be a long day at the races for the candidates, ballot counters, journalists, coffee givers, sandwich makers, etc, etc.
Ah, the art of the spoiled vote.
Exercising your democratic right to protest the ballot and say you’re not happy with any of the candidates? Or pointless waste of your vote?
Nice use of space by this voter, anyway, is that a first preference for Lynn Boylan or Mark Durkan?
Our team of tech wizards here in TJ buildings have been busy all morning doing up these snazzy graphics giving a breakdown of who is being elected where.
The results are coming in very fast now, with candidates being elected and eliminated in centres across the country.
But keep an eye on our Twitter thread for an idea of the state of play in all the different counties.
And now to our political correspondent Christina Finn giving us an aerial view of the state of play across the country:
“Well, we’re here at the RDS Simmonscourt where counting is getting underway. Ballot papers are being separated, but one issue here is that there will be no tallies for the Dublin constituency so we won’t actually know the big picture until the first count.
“The RTÉ/TG4 exit poll put the Green’s Ciaran Cuffe at the top of the poll but it will be interesting to see where his transfers go.
“The first count is expected after 10pm for the European elections, but word is here that the Dublin constituency first count might not be announced until midnight.
We’ll have a better lay of the land as the day progresses. In the other constituencies, there is speculation that the Midlands North West and Ireland South might not get a first count until tomorrow, so we could very well be in this for the long haul.
“Over at the other centres in the RDS, the local election count for the Dublin area has kicked off again after calling it a night at 10.30pm.
It was expected the locals would be done a lot quicker, but it appears having three (and four in some areas) ballot papers took longer to separate. As it stands we have just under 238 seats filled now in county and city councils across the country.
Stay tuned with us for the day here, follow @christinfinn8 and @TJ_Politics, as we bring you the latest as it happens.
Okay, deep breaths everyone, the word from Castlebar is that the final result for Midlands North West might not be until…
Wednesday or Thursday!
With over 630,000 ballots to get through, and polls showing how close the race is, it could come down to the wire.
Be sure to keep an eye on our reporter Kathleen McNamee’s tweet throughout the days (days?) for the latest updates.
Independent candidate Noeleen Reilly has been elected on the fifth count for Ballymun-Finglas in Dublin City Council.
Reilly left Sinn Féin last year in a high-profile split amid accusations of bullying.
Reilly’s election highlights an ongoing issue for Sinn Féin, which has had a number of councillors leaving amid bullying allegations.
Reilly’s election will certainly annoy party leaders, who need every councillor they can get past the post to try and offset their losses in what has been a poor election campaign.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s sitting councillor in the area Cathleen Carney Boud seat is far from certain at this stage.
He’s back!
Veteran Dublin Central Labour politician Joe Costello – a former TD who lost his seat in the 2016 elections – has been elected to Dublin City Council.
Costello has been campaigning more or less non-stop since he lost his Dáil seat, and you’ve got to believe he’ll be putting himself forward for the next general election.
For now, however, Costello is back in the council 20 years after he was first elected in 1999.
Staying with Dublin and a full recount has been called in the Artane Whitehall area:
No info as of yet on why the recount was called, Patricia Roe of Social Democrats and Larry O’Toole of Sinn Féin had been elected, but the recount is now underway.
It’s hard to get more emotional than a count centre, where months or even years of work culminate in either and win or a loss.
Candidates either get through, or they don’t.
Among others so far, we’ve had the Healy Rae father and son duo of Michael and Jackie celebrating the latter’s election to Kerry County Council:
We’ve had the Green Party’s Hazel Chu topping the poll in Pembroke with a staggering 4,069 first preferences and celebrating with her family:
And the latest – and in my opinion the most emotional – is the Green Party’s Una Power topping the poll in Killiney and Shankill and sharing a tender moment with her partner:
<Sniff>
Let’s check back quickly on Artane Whitehall, where a full recount has been called.
Our reporter Cónal Thomas has the suss:
“Following councillor Paddy Bourke being knocked out of the race for a seat there were just 8 votes between Sinn Féin’s Edel Moran (1,242) and Fianna Fáil’s Sean Paul Mahon (1,250), meaning Moran would be next to be eliminated.
Sinn Féin, therefore, challenged the vote count and called for a full recount.
We’ll keep an eye on what’s happening and will keep you updated.
Right!
Let’s try to get a handle on what’s going on across the country.
As I may have mentioned, results are coming in really fast, so it’s quite hard to get a handle on the ever-changing national picture.
Be that as it may, let’s give it a go. Latest results are showing that there are still only about a third of candidates elected.
Our rolling piece on what councillor is elected where has just under 300 or so elected out of 949.
You can check that out here. Keep checking out throughout the day and we’ll keep updating.
As has been reported the Greens are doing well, securing a lot of first preferences in councils across the country. But the party didn’t field that many candidates, so while it is good news for them their numbers will remain quite low in many areas.
Fianna Fáil seem to be making good gains in working class areas of Dublin, at the expense of PBP, Solidarity or Sinn Féin candidates. This will come as a surprise for party heads, but one they will certainly welcome.
The far left will not welcome these results, however, with their vote being squeezed out by the Greens, Independents and Fianna Fáil.
Labour is on track to grow its number of sitting councillors marginally, which you could call a win for the party, but it’s clear that people aren’t ready to fully forgive them yet.
The Social Democrats aren’t returning huge numbers, either. Meanwhile, the more right of centre parties like Aontú or Renua aren’t having a great day at the races either.
That said, Aontú candidates have topped the poll in a number of areas, so it’s not a complete washout for the brand new party.
All up to date? Great, let’s keep going so.
Ah would you look, there’s our video man Nicky Ryan in the RDS for the day.
Nicky will be providing updates from the centre for the day, so keep an eye on his feed for video and updates.
As Nicky himself accurately predicts, it’s going to be a long day:
Looks like it is coming down to the wire in the hotly contested DCC North Inner City ward.
Anthony Flynn – he of Inner City Helping Homeless fame – was hoping to secure a seat for his first time out.
It was looking that way yesterday, but the way the transfers are going sitting councillors Éilis Ryan – who is also running for Europe, but won’t be elected – and Janice Boylan could get in ahead of him.
We’ll keep you posted.
Right, let’s get out of Dublin for awhile.
Sinn Féin Tioreasa Ferris elected in Tralee on Count 4. The party is losing councillors, so it will be happy with this win.
This is the first councillor Sinn Féin have had elected in Kerry so far.
Meanwhile, in Monaghan Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are continuing their gains with Aidan Campbell (FG) and PJ O’Hanlon (FF) being elected in Carrickmacross-Castleblayney.
Labour have Cathal Rasmussen elected in Cobh, Co Cork. Meanwhile staying in Cork, James O’Connor (FF) and Danielle Twomey (SF) have been elected to Midleton.
Heading to Clare, and anne Norton (Ind), Pat Daly (FF) and Paul Murphy (FG) have all been elected in Ennis after the 10th.
In Kilrush, Councillor PJ Kelly has been returned to Clare County Council for the 9th time since 1974. Good innings.
Right, back to Dublin for a moment.
Looks like Anthony Flynn – he of the the aforementioned ICHH fame – has cinched it.
Flynn has secured election to the North Inner City area of Dublin City Council.
Here he is talking to Nicky Ryan, setting out his stall. Directly elected Lord Mayor, housing and homelessness will all be part of his agenda.
Here’s our political correspondent Christina Finn coming live from the RDS, giving an update on what’s going on so far.
Time for yet another breakdown of how the various parties are getting on in the local elections, but this time in emoji form!
Who needs words and statistical analysis when you can just use emojis, eh?
(DISCLAIMER: TheJournal.ie does not support the use of emojis over words / statistical analysis)
What were you doing when you were 20 years old?
Well, you almost certainly weren’t being elected to Athenry-Oranmore area of Galway like Albert Dolan.
Dolan was elected late last night on the first count with 1,720 first preference votes.
The accountancy student said he wants to do the best for his area. And in case you’re wondering, yes, he was named after Albert Reynolds.
The Healy Rae train marches on.
Continuing with the age old constant that no Healy Rae has ever lost an election, Johnny Healy Rae has passed the post in Kenmare.
Healy Rae was elected with Norma Moriarty and Michael Cahill.
And wouldn’t you know it, Maura Healy Rae has also topped the poll in Killarney.
The pair will join Jackie Healy Rae – who topped the poll yesterday – on Kerry County Council.
No stopping them.
The local elections are still the main focus at this stage of the day.
Counts are underway for the European elections Castlebar, Dublin and Cork, but it’s very early days yet and tallies aren’t giving a full picture of what’s going on as of yet.
As is being reported, counts are likely to go on well into next week in some of these areas.
Local results have been coming in all morning and afternoon and will continue will into the night.
We’ve not yet reached the halfway mark on candidates elected, so expect result to continue well into tonight.
Keep an eye on our rolling piece on councillors elected here.
We also have on ongoing Twitter thread that you can keep an eye on with updates of how many seats are filled in the various councils.
Let’s check out a few of the main stories coming out the election so far today from our reporters.
We’ll start with two stories of threes (bear with me here).
First, three Healy Raes – Jackie, Norma, and Johnny – have been elected to Kerry County Council. The younger Healy Raes will continue the amazing record the family has had in elections going back to the paterfamilias Jackie Healy Rae (Sr).
No Healy Rae has ever lost an election. Hayley Halpin has the details.
Our second story of three (sorry it’s been a long day) concerns councillors Hugh McElvaney, John O’Donnell and Joe Queenan all of whom have either been reelected or are very likely to be reelected to their local councils.
The three featured in an RTÉ documentary broadcast in 2015. Famously, McElvaney, a former Fine Gael representative, told an undercover RTÉ reporter that he wanted “loads of money” for his help on a business deal. Rónán Duffy has the story.
Turning the back to the Green Wave, and Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said that his party’s result in the elections has been somewhat disappointing.
He promised a shift in the government’s approach to climate change and the environment.
“I think you will see in the next few weeks… a very significant climate policy coming from the government,” he said. Cónal Thomas has the info here.
And last but not least (unless you’re counting age) Stephen McDermott has details on 20-year-old Albert Dolan, who has become one of the country’s youngest councillors.
Some tallies coming in from Castlebar for the Midlands North West European constituency.
Here, Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (by his own tallies) looks set to benefit from Independent Peter Casey’s transfers.
While both candidates have conflicting views on a lot of issues, they are both likely to appeal to “anti-establishment” voters, which may well explain the transfers.
Wondering how big the Dublin RDS count centre is?
Well, Nicky Ryan has shared this video:
So, eh – massive.
Sitting Lord Mayor of Dublin Nial Ring – not wearing his signature chains – was reelected in to the North Inner City area of Dublin City Council earlier today.
Ring told TheJournal.ie said that he has broken “the curse” of Lord Mayors not being reelected the council.
As of 3.15pm, this is the state of the play with the local elections.
With the caveat I’ve been giving all day about results coming in hard and fast and changing every 10 minutes, our rolling tally here is just under 400 councillors elected so far.
That means we still have a ways to go before the 949 seats are filled.
Fianna Fáil seem to be winning the day with the most councillors elected so far. Fine Gael aren’t far behind. Sinn Féin is on track for a bad election, and the Green Party is one the rise.
As always, keep an eye on our rolling post to see who is elected in you area. While some areas have finished counting, others have yet to declare a first count.
Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the most recent results (to give you an idea of just how fast the results are coming in).
Joanna Byrne of Sinn Féin has been elected in Drogheda.
Leonard Kelly has been reelected in Wexford.
The Green’s Pauline O’Reilly has been elected to the Galway city West area on the first count.
The Social Democrats Gary Gannon – also running for Europe – has been elected to Dublin City Council in Cabra-Glasnevin.
Meanwhile, Michael Begley has been elected for the Shannon electoral area of Clare County Council.
There you go. That’s a small sample of what’s been happening in the last 10 minutes. Please spare a quick thought to our reporters trying to keep things as up to date as possible as the results keep coming.
Well that’s it from me, folks. It has been fun.
I’ll hand you over to my colleague Michelle Hennessy, who will keep you updated on the latest goings on from across the country.
Happy election-ing!
Michelle Hennessy here with your updates for the next while.
In Meath, things seem to be moving quite slowly.
And it’s starting to take its toll on the reporters now.
Solidarity, sister!
We have a first count in Ballina – two candidates elected:
Fine Gael’s Darren Scully has been eliminated in Naas and so has lost his seat on Kildare County Council.
You may remember Scully from remarks he made in 2011 – when he was Mayor of Naas.
He told a radio station that he would no longer represent “immigrants from African countries” in his constituency, saying: “The majority of them I found to be very demanding and very quick to play the race card.”.
Scully resigned as mayor after the controversy and lost the Fine Gael whip. However in 2013 he was re-admitted to the party and was selected to run in that year’s local elections. He was re-elected as a councillor in Naas.
In 2015, he wrote a controversial letter which appeared in the Sunday Times about the family of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned along with his five-year-old brother off the Turkish coast.
He suggested they were not, in fact, fleeing for their lives.
If you’re looking for some behind the scenes info from the count centre, make sure to follow our Nicky Ryan:
(Cormac Fitzgerald back briefly)
The Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe arrived at the RDS about an hour ago to inspect spoiled votes. Cuffe – who is well in the running for a European seat – is reluctant to speak to the media until later.
Asked about party member Saoirse McHugh’s comments on going into any future coalition with FG/FF, he said “she spoke from the heart”.
He refused to be drawn on his own views, walking away silently from the journalists and refusing to answer. Nicky Ryan has the video here:
Some count centres have finished up with all their councillors elected.
Others are well into the thick of things with later counts being announced.
And then there’s Meath. The number crunchers at LMFM have calculated that 42 hours after the polls closed, a first count is yet to be announced.
Yep.
Our reporter in Castlebar Kathleen McNamee was chatting to Fine Gael European hopeful Maria Walsh just now.
Walsh said she was ”very much here for the local candidates and figuring how we’re doing”. She noted that the FG figures, especially in her own area of South Mayo, were looking good and that it was an “exciting” time.
In terms of her own bid, she said what she expected was a “hard fought” contest and that “it’s what we’re going to have”.
“I’m so new to it but what I’m being told from people who have been to many of these days is we’re not looking at anything until Tuesday evening and even Wednesday potentially,” she said.
The more percentages I get off Mairead McGuinness obviously the better in terms of getting a second seat but we don’t know.
Keep an eye on Kathleen’s Twitter throughout the evening for the latest updates.
Reports coming from the Bantry count centre in west Cork of a potential full recount.
There are rumours that just one vote separates Independent Finbarr Harrington and the Social Democrats’ Holly McKeever Cairns.
Will report back as we get it.
It has been a long two days, and there’s a long way still left to go.
No one has been elected to Offaly County Council for the last few hours, with some people in the Mucklagh count centre opting to nap onsite rather then head home and potentially miss the action.
Michelle Hennessy back on the liveblog again – just in time to tell you all about protesters who have surrounded the Housing Minister at the RDS count centre:
Reporter Olivia Kelleher in Cork tells us the subdividing of Ireland South ballots for the Eurpean Election has been ongoing all day.
The actual counting is only getting underway now.
“God knows when we will get a first count! It could well be lunchtime tomorrow.”
This seems to be the trend with the European ballots. TheJournal.ie‘s Christina Finn said count centre staff at the RDS in Dublin have spent three hours on spoiled votes. We may not even have a first count by tonight.
More on the protest at the RDS, which appears to have ended:
Don’t forget that other EU countries are only voting today. That’s why we can’t make any announcements until after 10pm; in case our results would influence voters in other countries – although at the rate we’re going we probably won’t have any definite results by then anyway.
Turnout is up compared to the 2014 elections so far, according to Politico:
So there was a funny story during the campaign about a local candidate running in the Clondalkin electoral area. His name is Eoin Ó Broin.
Not this Eoin Ó Broin (the Sinn Féin TD):
THIS Eoin Ó Broin (an independent candidate):
The Sinn Féin TD told the Echo earlier this month that he would not be voting for the independent candidate.
But here they are now, the two Eoin Ó Broins, together at the count centre where the independent candidate has been deemed elected:
People Before Profit candidate Peter Dooley, who has been eliminated, was one of the people who confronted the Housing Minister earlier. He told us:
We’ve had bills going into the Dáil, anti-eviction bills, bills to keep people in their homes and it hasn’t happened because the government has facilitated and manufactured a housing crisis that benefits landlords, benefits vulture funds, real estate investment trusts, benefits developers and even last week we saw the horrific stuff about co-living coming in to get people to live in these cells of the future.
We have a few recounts going on as some of the counts are excruciatingly close…
Olivia Kelleher has been speaking to Green Party senator Grace O’Sullivan at the Nemo Rangers count centre in Cork.
She said the plastic pollution was something that came up “again and again” when she was out canvassing in housing estates.
“It wasn’t just the young. It was older people at the door saying to me they are sick of it. (People also realise) that climate change isn’t just about greenhouse gases and global warming.
“Climate change is about the housing we live in. How the house is designed and planned in to the future.”
O’Sullivan was cautiously optimistic about her chances of getting elected to the European Parliament.
“I won’t be counting my chickens before they hatch. But I hope that I am the feline that has the milk this evening. That I am the one who gets the cream.”
The Ireland South first round result is not expected until as late as lunchtime tomorrow.
Olivia tells us the process has been long and arduous because of the length of the ballot papers. Counting is expected to get underway soon.
An RTE Exit poll predicted that Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly will top the poll with 16% of first preferences, followed by Sinn Fein’s Liadh Ni Riada and Fianna Fail’s Billy Kelleher who are both on 13%. Grace O’Sullivan followed behind on 12%.
Sitting Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune is expected to be in with a fight to retain her seat with the exit poll gauging her at 9%. Her running mate Andrew Doyle was at 4%.
The Independents 4 Change candidate Mick Wallace has polled 10% support while Sheila Nunan of the Labour Party is on 3% according to the poll.
The Taoiseach has arrived at the count centre:
We here at TheJournal.ie would like to pass on our commiserations to this four-legged candidate. Robbed.
Speaking to RTÉ, the Taoiseach said he recognises the government needs to pull its socks up when it comes to action on tackling climate change.
He also said he can’t rule out an election being called in the next few months and possibly even weeks.
Let us recover a bit from this one first, will you?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say