Barry O'Connor
BBC News NI

Image source, PA Media

Good morning and welcome back to BBC News NI's live page of the Irish general election count.

You can keep right up to date with all the drama as we bring you results as they come in.

Counting began at centres across the country at 09:00 GMT on Saturday. Polls closed at 22:00 on Friday night.

So far, 41 of the Dáil's 174 seats have been filled, with counting resuming on Sunday morning.

A record number of 174 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) are set to be elected, up from 160 in 2020. This comes after a constituency shake-up.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said she wants to open talks with other left wing parties and independents with a view to forming a coalition.

Some analysts are suggesting that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael could win more than 80 seats between them, putting them close to the finish line of 88 needed for an overall majority.

Image source, Reuters

That’s all from our live coverage tonight.

We will be back at 10:00 GMT tomorrow to bring updates from across Ireland and our Sunday Politics programme.

Looking at how things stand now, just 10 of 174 seats have been filled.

Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman has said his party has "not had a good day" and has accepted that some of his party colleagues will lose their seats.

Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin has become the first main party leader to be re-elected after topping the poll in Cork South Central.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said it is “too close to call” how many seats Fine Gael will secure.

He declined to speculate on who he would like to enter a coalition with, saying "there will be plenty of time for that I assure you in the days and weeks ahead".

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has told BBC News NI that her party “will look at all the options on the table”, but added she doesn’t “want to see the return of the outgoing government”.

There’s still a long road ahead before all 174 TDs are elected, so hold tight.

The live page was brought to you by Peter Coulter, Hayley Halpin, Barry O'Connor and Claire Dickson.

Academic Margaret Callaghan says it doesn't matter who has had a good result today.

"The winners at the end of the day are those who succeed in forming a government," says academic Margaret O'Callaghan.

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Speaking to BBC News NI's Political Editor Enda McClafferty, Sinn Féin's President Mary Lou McDonald stresses that her party "will look at all the options on the table."

"I think we have to interrogate every option. People voted for us for change.

"I think the answer to how we leverage our mandate is with other parties who have had a good day out," she says.

"I don't want to see the return of the outgoing government."

McDonald says that she will first look at options with who Sinn Féin share "the politics of change."

Michelle Gildernew comments that when Michael Martin said before the last election that his party wouldn't go into government with Fine Gael, no-one believed him.

When he said this time that he wouldn't go into government with Sinn Fein they knew he really meant it.

She adds that Sinn Fein doesn't want to see young people seeking their economic fortunes elsewhere.

"It's going to be very difficult for us to form a government," she said.

Gildernew said she wished the party had done better "for the young people of Ireland it would have been a better outcome"

The Republic of Ireland elects its government using a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote - the same system used to elect MLAs to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Voters will have the opportunity to rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference, marking their favourite with a number one, a number two beside their next choice and so on.

They can vote for as many or as few candidates as they like.

Candidates will have to reach a certain number of votes in order to be elected.

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Ballots are transferred to the next usable preference after a candidate has reached their quota for election

That number is decided for each constituency using a mathematical formula based on the number of seats available and the number of votes that have been cast.

Counting the ballots takes place in multiple rounds.

Each ballot is initially credited to the first choice.

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Once a candidate receives the number of votes required, they are elected and any remaining ballots that are marked with them as first choice are transferred to the second ranked preferences.

Ballots continue to be transferred to the next usable preference until all of the seats in the constituency are filled with candidates who have reached the quota.

Unlike other systems, such as first past the post which is used to elect MPs to Westminster, STV can make for a very lengthy counting process, meaning for some constituencies the count may last several days.

Image source, Reuters

Speaking to media, Labour leader Ivana Bacik says that her first intention next week is to speak to political party leaders that share Labour's visions and values.

"Explicitly I mean the Green Party and the Social Democrats, they're the first people we speak to," Bacik said.

"It's very easy for parties on the left to look at what has happened to the Greens and to say 'we're not going into government' but that's not us," she said.

"We're serious about delivering change and we want to chart a pathway to do that."

Hayley Halpin
BBC News NI

Image source, PA Media

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris is speaking to the media as he arrives at the election count centre at Shoreline Leisure Greystones in Co Wicklow.

Speaking to RTÉ News, Harris said he is “really grateful” to those who have voted for him.

He said it is “too close to call” how many seats Fine Gael will secure.

“As I’ve been saying for many weeks, in any Irish election it’s quite straightforward to pick where the first or second or maybe even where the third seat might go in a constituency but trying to call the last or the second last seat is something that even Mystic Meg can struggle with,” Harris said.

He said this will be a "tight" election.

Harris declined to speculate on who he would like to enter a coalition with, saying "there will be plenty of time for that I assure you in the days and weeks ahead".

Earlier in the day we reported that a wedding ring had fallen into a sealed ballot box.

Well we've got an update and some good news.

It has now been retrieved for its owner.

Image source, RTÉ

Image source, PA Media

It's not an election without a few kisses!

Taoiseach Simon Harris and Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin have both been getting some smooches after arriving at their count centres.

There's still a long way to go and lots of kisses still to be dished out.

Image source, PA Media

Speaking about forming a government, Margret O'Callaghan stresses again that we can't think this through "until we see the numbers."

"It is about numbers, numbers, numbers," she says.

"I would imagine if parties are trying to form a government, they will not want to try and herd cats at crossroads.

"Independents are probably a nightmare to try and bring in."

Click 'Watch live' at the top of the screen now to hear more from our panel.

Dan Mulhall, former Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, says the Social Democrats have “done the best out of all the parties”.

He said they have doubled their vote, from 2.9% to 5.8%, describing it as a “pretty big move”.

“I think you have to hand it to the Social Democrats,” he says.

Sinn Féin president Mary-Lou McDonald is just under the quota in Dublin Central.

It is expected that she will pass the quota and top the poll in the constituency but there is speculation that some Sinn Féin votes have gone to intendent candidate Gerry Hutch.

The result raises questions into why Gerry Hutch's anti-establishment campaigning played better with voters than Sinn Fein's.

Image source, PA Media

Speaking to RTÉ's Six One News, Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman said that today's result has been disappointing, but added that his party will "start the rebuild next week".

"We took the decision to go into government in 2020, we did so with our eyes open, we knew the risk, but for the Green Party, the risk has always been paid off with delivering on policy and we've been able to do that," he said.

The Green Party have been in a coalition with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil since 2020.

Speaking of how the Greens have delivered in the past four years, O'Gorman said: "We got an ambitious climate law passed, we see now our emissions are the lowest that they've been in the last 30 years, so we've delivered on the core elements of our mandate."

Fianna Fáíl leader Micheál Martin has just been re-elected to Cork South Central on the first count.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty is expected to get the highest vote in this election.

With over 19,000 first preferences in the tally, he is just ahead of Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae, who has secured more than 18,000 first preferences in Kerry.

Speaking at the count centre, Doherty says he felt "humbled" by the huge vote.

"We are the people's choice in Donegal, and we know all too well the challenge ahead after we're elected to represent the county, in the way it needs."

Doherty said his running mate Padraig Mac Lochlainn has "also polled really well and looks set to take the second seat".

"our third candidate Noel Jordan also did really well, so our vote in the county has really held up well."

Micheál Martin has said "it is still early days" but he think his party is doing slightly better than the exit polls have predicted.

He says the party "can see a route to a very strong finish".

There are 20 candidates slogging it out for five seats in Donegal with no candidates yet announced.

BBC News NI digital reporter Chloe Gibson says some excitement took place at the count centre this morning though when a voter dropped their wedding ring into the ballot box.

It looks at this stage like Sinn Fein will retain their two seats and Pearse Doherty will top the poll.

It looks to be a bruising election for Fine Gael in Donegal as neither of their two candidates look to be able to make it over the line.

Independent candidate Verona Murphy has been elected on the first count in Wexford.

She secured 11,340 first preference votes.

Sinn Féin's David Cullinane has been re-elected in the Waterford constituency.

He secured 1,936 first preference votes.

There is a strong possibility that the Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman will lose his seat and if the Greens are to be wiped out, "it is going to start here" says BBC News NI digital reporter Adam Mandeville in Dublin West.

"It is always a surprise when a party leader loses their seat, for many O'Gorman is the figure head of the two failed referendums and he has seen the brunt of the anti-government vote."

The referendums Adam refers too are the ones back in March 2024 when voters in the Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted against amending the Irish Constitution.

A second proposed change on the wording around the role of women in the home was defeated by a higher margin with 73.9% of voters rejecting it.

It was the highest ever no vote percentage in an Irish referendum.