A big, big win for the Labour Party.
Labour candidate Ivana Bacik is on course to top the poll in the Dublin Bay South by-election.
The count began at the RDS at 9am on Friday morning and is continuing on Friday afternoon although final counts are expected shortly with an official announcement later in the evening.
Some Labour TDs and Senators are starting to claim victory, as the counting continues with Senator Rebecca Moynihan calling it "a very good day".
https://twitter.com/RebeccaMoy/status/1413463802293592066
From early morning it looked set to be a close fought affair between Bacik, Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan and the Fine Gael candidate James Geoghegan.
Bacik, and activist, barrister and lecturer, is expected to top the poll with around 30% of the vote, a stronger election result in the constituency for the Labour Party than the 1992 and 2011 elections.
A final tally for Geoghegan suggests that at 26.5%, he is likely to trail Bacik, who prior to today was expected to be relying on transfers to overtake him.
Despite a bright start this morning, Boylan's challenge fell away and Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald has conceded the result saying “It’s Ivana’s day” and congratulating Bacik on the result.
McDonald added that the result of the by-election makes it clear "the Government is living on borrowed time".
Tallies also indicated Claire Byrne of the Green Party is on just under 8%, with Fianna Fáil's Deirdre Conroy under 5% and Independent Mannix Flynn on 3%.
Main image via Rebecca Moynihan
