For the last three weeks, 686 candidates have been knocking on doors, issuing press releases, doing media appearances and debating at hustings on TV, radio, online and occasionally in the flesh.

On Friday, 3,689,896 people had the opportunity to cast their ballots.

Those ballots were delivered overnight to the count centres for the 43 constituencies that will elect 174 people to the 34th Dail.

Why your vote matters

At nine o'clock on Saturday morning, counting commenced across the country. It will take some time, as each vote counts and can count many times.

The system is complex, but explainable. Initially, every vote is awarded to the candidate that has been given first preference.

That vote stays with that candidate until they are elected or eliminated.

If a candidate is elected on the first count, their surplus vote is distributed proportionately among the remaining candidates.

If no one is elected, the lowest candidate or candidates are eliminated. All their votes are transferred to the remaining candidate who has received the highest preference.

This system of eliminations and transfers continues until all the seats are filled.

Each time a candidate is elected, their surplus vote is transferred across to the remaining candidates.

Interestingly, that surplus is determined by examining the last tranche of votes transferred in, with the number of surplus votes distributed to each remaining proportionate to the percentage of preferences they gained in that tranche of votes.

That, in a nutshell, is how the single transferable vote works in a multi-seat constituency.

It’s an elegant system, which means that smaller parties gain a level of representation that is closer to their support levels than they would in most other electoral systems.

Why farmers matter to this election

This week, I moderated at two election hustings. The first took place in the Wexford/Wicklow constituency and four of the 10 candidates in this new constituency attended, being grilled by the attendance on mostly farming issues.

On Thursday evening, on the eve of voting, nine of the 15 candidates in the Wexford constituency attended a hustings in the heart of that new constituency in the Horse and Hound in Ballinaboola, on the New Ross-Wexford road.

It says something about the importance of the farming vote that so many candidates abandoned their canvass at such a crucial stage of the campaign to subject themselves to forensic questioning from the floor on the incredibly diverse and complex range of issues facing farming, food production and the rural economy and environment.

The reason why they did - and hundreds more candidates across the country did too - is because farmers and their families tend to vote in large numbers. They can be the difference between becoming a TD and falling just short.

Why this election matters to farmers

The reason why farmers vote in high numbers is simple. The government has a huge influence over the day-to-day lives of farmers, in terms of the things they are allowed to do, the things they are required to do and the supports they receive for both.

With costs in farming now devouring margins, as food prices utterly fail to reflect production costs, farming only makes sense if the gap is filled by schemes and incentives.

That is unlikely to change over the next five years, so government support is critical to farm viability.

In addition, this government will negotiate the next iteration of the water framework directive and the associated nitrates derogation.

They will represent Ireland in the CAP negotiations. Indeed, the Irish government will hold the EU presidency in the second half of 2026 and may broker the crucial CAP negotiations, just as they did in 2013. So this is a consequential election.

Tune in this evening when I’ll give an update on tallies, predictions and gossip from counts across the country.