Counting of votes in the Seanad election is under way, with the two university panels expecting a first count this evening.
Polls closed for the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel and the Dublin University/Trinity College panels at 11am this morning.
Turnout is expected to be close to 30% for the NUI panel and around 23-24% for the Dublin University/Trinity College panel.
A combined initial tally from a number of NUI Seanad panel candidates has indicated that incumbents Michael McDowell, Alice Mary Higgins and Rónán Mullen will be ahead on the first count.
The combined unofficial tally of the 12-candidate race for the three seats on the panel, which has been seen by RTÉ News, indicates that Mr McDowell is on 31% of first preference votes, followed by Mr Mullen on 21% and Ms Higgins on 19%.
In the combined initial tally from a number of candidates, Eva Dowling follows the three lead candidates on 9%, with Ronan Collins on 8%.
The remaining candidates are Linda O'Shea Farren, Marie Keenan on 3% each; Sandra Adams and Dara Kilmartin on 2% each; and Michael O'Doherty, Mairead Kenny and Hilary Beirne on 1% each.
Initial tallies in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel suggest incumbents Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan are in a strong position - and that six more candidates are in a clear fight for the final seat.
An official count in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel is not expected until around 11pm or midnight.
However, a number of unofficial tallies by various candidates' teams suggest potential trends.
Current Independent senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan have received 21% and 19% of first preference votes, according to the unofficial tallies.
The Duin University/Trinity College Seanad panel first count is not expected until close to midnight.
— Fiachra Ó Cionnaith 😊 (@Ocionnaith) January 29, 2025
Initial tallies suggest Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan are in pole position, while six more candidates are within 6% of each other & in contention.
They include Ind Aubrey McCarthy pic.twitter.com/wxbuCNcx7z
They are followed in the 16-candidate race by a group of six candidates who are likely to also be in contention for a seat.
They are Independent candidate Aubrey McCarthy on 11%, Independent candidate Hugo MacNeill on 8%, Green Party candidates Ossian Smyth and Hazel Chu on 7% each, Labour candidate Sadhbh O Neill on 5% and Independent candidate Katherine Zappone on 5%.
If the tally proves accurate when the official first count in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel takes place tonight, it would suggest a potential bunching of candidates for the final seat and underline the long-stated crucial role transfers play in an election.
The unofficial tally places the other candidates in the race at: Independent Ade Oluborode on 2%; Social Democrats' Paul Mulville on 1.6%; Independent John (Jack) Mulcahy on 1%; Independent Marcus Matthews on 1%; Independent Laoise de Brun on 3.4%; Independent Kevin Byrne on 2.6%; Independent Derek Byrne on 0.6%; and Independent Abbas Ali O Shea on 0.4%
Counting will begin in the five vocational panels on Thursday morning.
In all, 141 candidates are competing across seven panels for 49 seats - with 11 more seats to be filled after the election through Taoiseach nominations.
The NUI panel votes are being counted at the RDS in Dublin, while the Dublin University/Trinity College panel votes are being counted at the exam hall at the Trinity College campus.
Both panels elect three candidates each to the 60-seat Seanad.
The remaining seats are filled by five vocational panels, the votes for which will be counted on Thursday and over the weekend, and 11 Taoiseach nominations - which will take place after the other results are known.
The voting register is currently limited to graduates of NUI and Trinity College, as well as incoming TDs, outgoing senators and sitting councillors.
However, this system is changing with future Seanad elections to widen the voter register to graduates of all third level institutions.
Meanwhile, a small number of votes in the NUI Seanad panel had to be sellotaped back together after a counting machine caused minor damage to them.
Officials for NUI confirmed the situation to RTÉ News, but said the votes are still legible and valid, and that their repair was witnessed by a number of people at the count centre in the RDS.
The number of votes involved is understood to be very small.
The damage is understood to have been caused when some votes were not placed correctly in the vote counting machine.
Read more:
Watch: What you need to know about the Seanad election
Deadline for nominations to Seanad Vocational panels
