No Rabbitte and no Hutch in next Dáil but McConalogue looking more likely

A quick run around the country as we hit suppertime on Sunday on general election weekend.

We’ll start in Donegal, where Charlie McConalogue is in better shape in terms of retaining his seat.

Pearse Doherty and Padraig MacLochlainn have taken the first two seats for Sinn Féin, while Pat the Cope Gallagher will take a seat for Fianna Fáil.

The outgoing minister for agriculture (McConalogue) is on 8,315 votes after eight counts. He is sandwiched between 100% Redress candidate Charles Ward (7,522 votes) and outgoing independent TD Thomas Pringle (5,798 votes), with Sinn Féin’s third candidate Noel Jordan a further thousand votes back.

There are still about 13,000 votes to be distributed before any of these candidates are eliminated.

Crucially for McConalogue, over 7,000 of these votes will come from the Fine Gael pair of Nikki Bradley and John McNulty. The two main government parties have been transferring pretty strongly to each other all across the country.

Frontrunner

Next door in Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Féin’s agriculture spokesperson Martin Kenny is well set to take a seat, as is Fine Gael’s Frankie Feighan.

Fianna Fáil will win a seat, with Eamon Scanlon the frontrunner among their three candidates.

The final seat rests between Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin’s Chris McManus and Michael Clarke of Independent Ireland.

Marian Harkin needs a strong transfer from the just-eliminated independent Marie Casserly to stay in the hunt for that final seat.

In Mayo, the big three have a seat each, in Rose Conway-Walsh, Alan Dillon and Dara Calleary.

Fine Gael seem certain of a second seat from Keira Keogh, with the final seat between Aontú’s Paul Lawless and independent Patsy O’Brien.

Galway West looks like a seven-horse race for five seats. With a huge field of candidates, there are some counts to go, but the current standings see Mairéad Farrell of Sinn Féin clear of the pack and set to retain their seats.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have enough votes for a seat each, with John Connolly taking the Fianna Fáil seat, following a disappointing showing from Grainne Seoige.

Hildegarde Naughton is currently edging ag graduate Sean Kyne.

Outgoing independent TDs Catherine Connolly and Noel Grealish are close together, just ahead of Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas. It’s too close to call.

Galway East is done and dusted. Outgoing independent Seán Canney and new kid on the block Albert Dolan of Fianna Fáil, who has won a Dáil seat on his 26th birthday, were joined by Fine Gael’s Peter Roche and Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara. Independent Ireland’s Declan Geraghty was last man standing.

Outgoing junior minister Anne Rabbitte has lost her seat.

The count in Roscommon-Galway has also concluded, with Independent Ireland’s Michael Fitzmaurice topping the poll and elected on the first count, joined by former Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Claire Kerrane and Fianna Fáil’s Martin Daly.

Into Leinster

Crossing into Leinster, in Longford-Westmeath, Peter Burke (perhaps one to put on the shortlist for the next agriculture minister) is the only person safely home.

There are still 10 candidates standing with four seats to fight for.

Fianna Fáil will take a seat through Robert Troy, while Sorca Clarke will hold her seat for Sinn Féin. Independent Kevin Boxer Moran will regain his seat, with the final seat a lottery still, although Michael Carrigy has a live chance of a second Fine Gael seat.

Moving up into Cavan-Monaghan, it took until lunchtime to deliver a first count.

There will be two Sinn Féin seats and one seat each for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The last seat is between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, where former agriculture spokesperson Matt Carthy has spearheaded a campaign where Sinn Féin have gained one in three votes.

In Louth, Sinn Féin again look set for two seats. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil both look set to hold seats, but Paula Butterly looks set to outgun the embattled Senator John McGahon as the Fine Gael flagbearer, while Erin McGreehan, sister of Irish Farmers Association stalwart Matthew, is in pole position to win a seat for Fianna Fáil ahead of journalist Alison Comyn.

Labour's Ged Nash will comfortably hold his seat, but it will all take some time.

In Meath East, Helen McEntee is safely home, as is Darren O'Rourke. Thomas Byrne will also hold his seat for Fianna Fáil, with the last seat currently looking like it might go to independent Gillian Toole, a close associate of conservative Senator Sharon Keogan.

Aontú's Emer Tóibín may be the unlucky last candidate standing here.

No such worries for Emer's brother - and Aontú leader - Peadar Tóibín. He has been comfortably reelected in Meath West, as have Sinn Féin's Johnny Guirke and Fianna Fáil's Aisling Dempsey.

Kildare North is proceeding at a leisurely pace, but it looks like James Lawless will retain his seat for Fianna Fáil, as will Reada Cronin for Sinn Féin.

Aidan Farrelly looks set to retain Katherine Murphy's seat for the Social Democrats. Fine Gael will hold a seat, but the country's longest serving TD Bernard Durkan is in a scrap to extend his Dáil tenure. The last seat could literally go anywhere.

Kildare South is all over, including the counting. Outgoing minister of state for agriculture Martin Heydon held his seat with ease.

Fianna Fáil failed to add a seat to that automatically held by Ceann Comhairle Sean O'Fearghail, with Labour's Mark Wall and Sinn Féin's Shonagh Ní Raghallaigh likely to retain their seats.

That's it for now - tune in later for the constituencies across the lower half of the country.