2014 ELECTIONS: Half Of Local Authority Seats Filled: UPDATED

Live Blog: Local & European Election 

UPDATE: Only 34 of the 949 council seats available remain to be filled in the local authority elections.

Fianna Fáil have made significant gains in the election and now hold 259 seats across the country, having received 25.3% of first preference votes.

Independents and Others makes up the next largest grouping, holding 230 council seats following a first preference vote of 28.3%.

Fine Gael support is down by more than a third since the General Election, with the party currently holding 223 seats.

Sinn Féin has also experienced considerable growth and now holds 153 seats and is the largest party on the Dublin City and South Dublin Councils.

Labour has experienced a collapse in support to 7%, holding just 50 seats nationwide. The poor performance from the party has lead to calls from backbenchers for a discussion on party leadership.

Government sources have said that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are to meet later today to discuss election results and a possible Cabinet reshuffle.

A number of recounts are began this morning around the country.

Turnout nationally stood at 51.6%

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Counting is continuing nationwide in the local elections with 409 of the 949 seats filled so far.
Westmeath County Council and Leitrim County Council are the only councils which have completed their counts.

Independents and Others hold 106 seats having received the highest overall first preference vote of 28.4%.

Fianna Fáil holds 103 seats so far, with a first preference vote of 24.5%.

Sinn Féin at present holds 97 seats nationwide, having received 16% of first preference votes.
LINK TO DUBLIN (RDS) Photo Album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100853986949465414816/2014localelectionsdublincountcentrerds 

Both Government parties are behind in the polls so far, with Fine Gael holding 82 seats and Labour with 21.

Fine Gael received the third-highest first preference vote of 23.5%, while Labour received 7.6% of first-preferences.

Turnout nationally stood at 50.8%.

At least three mayor's have lost their seats so far - Mayor of Clare Joe Arkins, of Fine Gael, and Lord Mayor of Cork Catherine Clancy of Labour.

Cork County Mayor Noel O'Connor of Fine Gael was also not re-elected.

Three former TDs have had successful local elections campaigns so far, with Mary Hanafin and Charlie O'Connor of Fianna Fáil and Chris Andrews of Sinn Féin all being elected.

19 former TDs contested the election and a number of these look likely to also take seats,

Elsewhere, Independent candidate Margaret Gormley has topped the poll in Ballymote-Tubercurry, maintaining her record of topping every poll since 1991.

A number of parties have also seen fresh blood emerge, with 21-year-old Stephen Cunningham of Sinn Féin and 23-year-old Fintan Phelan of Fianna Fáil among the youngest candidates to be elected.

Former Mayor of Naas re-elected

Controversial former Mayor of Naas Darren Scully has also been re-elected.

Mr Scully lost the Fine Gael party whip after he made racist remarks about constituents in November 2011.

Speaking on local radio he said that he would no longer represent ''black Africans'' in his community because of ''aggression'' he received when dealing with them.

Mr Scully was restored to the party in November 2013 and tonight was elected on the fifth count in the Naas Electoral Area.

Taoiseach describes result as 'vote of anger'

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has described the election result as a "vote of frustration" and a "vote of anger".

Speaking on RTÉ News, Mr Kenny said that the election result was the people telling the Government that they needed to do better.

He said that the Coalition had to reflect and deal with the fears of older people, those with medical difficulties and of hard pressed tax payers.

Mr Kenny also said that the result was difficult for Eamon Gilmore and the Labour party.

Gilmore to continue as Labour leader

Mr Gilmore said that there is no question about his leadership of following the poor results experienced by the party.

Labour has lost heavily in the local elections and also looks to be in danger of losing all of its European Parliament seats.

He said the people of the country had sent a very loud and clear message to the Government and to the Labour party.

He said it was clear that while people understood the need to stabilise the country's finances, they felt squeezed in their household budgets and wanted the Government to do better.

Mr Gilmore said the smaller party in Government generally suffers more in these situations.

Adams welcomes results

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has welcomed the result, saying the party would 'use its mandate wisely'.

Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Adams said that Sinn Féin wants to change the way politics works and added that the party did not want to be in Government 'just for the sake of it' and would only enter Government if it had a mandate to do so.

Martin not concerned by Sinn Féin growth

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said that he is not concerned about the growth in support for Sinn Féin as Fianna Fáil was on a different trajectory and in a "different space" to Sinn Féin.

He also rejected suggestions that he would be looking over his shoulder for the next two years at what Sinn Féin would be doing.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil would be looking ahead themselves and would focus on their own objectives.

Keywords: elections, constituency