Independent Ireland’s Michael Fitzmaurice has been comfortably re-elected to the Dáil after the first count in Roscommon-Galway in General Election 2024.
Fitzmaurice surpassed the quota in the constituency by almost 2,000 first preference votes, securing his seat.
In the same constituency, former Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Claire Kerrane is also in a strong position, and is in second place after Fitzmaurice after the first count.
In other General Election 2024 developments tonight, Taoiseach Simon Harris has joined Tánaiste Micheál Martin as the second coalition leader to secure re-election.
The Taoiseach surged past the quota in Wicklow by over 5,000 first preference votes.
As for the opposition, Sinn Féin leader Mary-Lou McDonald had to wait until count three in Dublin Central to be declared elected.
Turning to the three government ministers involved in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, after the first count in Donegal, home of senior minister Charlie McConalogue, the minister finds himself off the pace, polling in fourth position in the five seater constituency.
His department colleague, Fine Gael Minister of State Martin Heydon, is in a stronger position, leading the pack in Kildare South after four counts. However, he remains 1,500 votes shy of the quota, and with no other Fine Gael candidates in the race, how he sources transfers will be an important factor for him.
Minister of State Pippa Hackett, in her bid to become a TD for the first time, has been unsuccessful. The senator was eliminated from the Offaly count earlier this evening.
Her party, the Green Party, has had a difficult election; indeed, whether they retain any seats at all in the next Dáil is unclear at the moment.
In Minister Hackett’s constituency of Offaly, independent Carol Nolan has been re-elected.
Ireland went to the polls yesterday (Friday, November 29) in to decide which 174 TDs will sit in the 34th Dáil.
Voting began at 7:00a.m yesterday morning and polling stations closed 10:00p.m last night.
There are nearly 700 candidates running in this General Election, spread around 43 constituencies, with each constituency electing between three and five TDs.
This Dáil, when elected, will be the largest in the history of the state.