THE MAIN POINTS:
- Twenty-nine Sinn Féin candidates have now been elected to the 33rd Dáil.
- Fianna Fáil have won 16 seats while Fine Gael has 14 TDs.
- Fine Gael's Simon Coveney and Fianna Fáil's Michael McGrath have been elected on the eighth count in Cork South Central. Mc Grath was elected without reaching the quota.
- Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy has been elected in Kildare North on the third count. She initially topped the poll with 9,808 votes with a final tally of 11,008.
- Outgoing Fine Gael Minister Regina Doherty has lost her seat in Meath East, while former Labour leader Joan Burton loses seat in Dublin West
- Fine Gael's Higher Education Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor has lost her seat in Dún Laoghaire.
- Ruth Coppinger of People Before Profit has lost her seat in Dublin West.
- Willie O'Dea of Fianna Fáil has retained his seat in Limerick city after the second count.
- Sorcha Clarke has become the first Sinn Féin TD to be elected in either Longford or Westmeath for over 60 years..
- Solidarity's Richard Boyd Barrett has retained his seat in Dun Laoghaire.
- Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and FF leader Micheal Martin are elected on 5th and 6th counts respectively.
- People Before Profit TD Brid Smith has kept her seat in Dublin South Central after the second count
Seventy-eight of the 160 seats to be won in Election 2020 have now been filled, with counting to resume in a number of constituencies this morning.
Sinn Féin still lead the field, but both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are gaining ground thanks to their far higher number of fielded candidates.
Twenty-nine Sinn Féin candidates have now been elected to the 33rd Dáil.
Fianna Fáil have won 16 seats while Fine Gael has 14 TDs so far. The loss of two government ministers last night will dominate headlines - Mary Mitchell O'Connor and Regina Doherthy lost their seats in Dún Laoghaire and Meath East respectively.
Independent candidates have picked up eight seats, the Greens five, SOL-PBP and the Social Democrats have two apiece.
Labour and Aontu have secured one seat each.
Sinn féin leader Mary Lou McDonald insists she will talk to all parties when it comes to forming a new government.
However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he intends to stand by the party's commitment not to enter into coalition with Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin suggested yesterday that he had softened his stance against talking to Sinn Féin, while acknowledging that large policy differences remain between the two parties.
A total of 159 seats have to be filled (Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl is automatically returned in Kildare South). Count centres will re-open their doors from 9am today.
