Local election results: Independents perform strongly as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil battle to be largest local government party

The battle to be the largest party of local government remains too close to call between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as the second day of counting continues in local and European elections.

With more than one third of seats filled on local authorities this afternoon, Fine Gael had 89 seats and a first preference vote share of more than 23 per cent, ahead of Fianna Fáil’s 84 seats and 22 per cent share of the vote. Independents and other had taken 80 seats on 27 per cent of the vote.

Speaking privately, a Fianna Fáil Minister said it was “neck and neck”.

“Neither party can confidently say they will be ahead of the other at this point,” the Minister said on Sunday.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald admitted her party has had a “disappointing” weekend. It had won just 15 council seats as of Sunday afternoon and claimed just over 11 per cent of the first preference vote, well shy of its standing in the opinion polls.

“We have made some gains. They are modest, but they’re there. It hasn’t been our day. Clearly frustrations and indeed anger with Government policy, on this occasion, has translated into votes for Independents and others,” she told reporters as she arrived at the RDS in Dublin for the European election count at lunchtime.

“We will regroup. I am sorry we didn’t do better, I know that we can do better and I am determined that we will do better.”

The party’s share of the vote so far is two percentage points higher than its 2019 local election performance, when it lost a significant number of seats, but remains well below the 2020 general election performance of 24.5 per cent.

Arriving at the count centre for the Dublin seat in the European Parliament at the RDS, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it had been a “mixed day” for his candidates, but it was too early to say whether Ciarán Cuffe would retain his seat in Dublin or Grace O’Sullivan would retain hers in Ireland South.

Sinéad Gibney, the Social Democrats candidate for Dublin, admitted she was facing an uphill struggle to claim a seat in the capital, but at local level the party appears to have added to its representatives.

The party’s strategists expect the party to gain seats in Bandon-Kinsale with Ann Bambury, Caroline Winstanley in Bray West, Danny Alvey in Wicklow, Jen Cummins in the South West Inner City, Paddy Monahan in Donaghmede and Pádraig Rice in Cork City South Central.

Labour’s MEP candidate for Dublin Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said he expected to be in the mix for a seat in Dublin, claiming the election was an important turning point for his party. “We have got our self-confidence back,” he said at the RDS.

In Midlands-North-West incumbent MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan said he was happy with tallies so far.

“We’ll see what happens, but if someone said to me three or four weeks ago that the tallies were saying what they were saying, I’d be happy at this stage,” he told reporters at the count centre.

Sinn Féin would “struggle” to secure a seat in the constituency, he said, “which is extraordinary. When you look at some of the opinion polls from just over a year ago.”

A partial tally of European votes in Dublin, which comes with significant caveats and health warnings attached, had Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews ahead of his rivals on 13.1 per cent, with Regina Doherty of Fine Gael on 12.3 per cent.

Ms Doherty said that a sense of momentum stemming from the election of Simon Harris as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach just over two months ago had energised the party’s campaigns.

She said the party was having a “good weekend” and there was a “good feeling all around”.

Tallies had Mr Ó Ríordáin on 12.2 per cent but the ballot watchers warned that it included the entirety of Clontarf, one of his strongest voting bases in his constituency of Dublin Bay North.

Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan was on 10.6 per cent and Clare Daly (Independents for Change) was on 7.2 per cent, with Mr Cuffe on 8.4 per cent.