BREAKING: Lawless is first TD elected in Kildare North

Outgoing TD and Minister of State James Lawless has just become the first TD elected to the 24th Dáil.

He was elected on the  eighth count thanks to 684 transferred votes from defeated Fine Gael candidate Evie Sammon, who had been eliminated from the contest.

This brought his total vote 10,007, which saw him exceed the quota by 502 votes.

Count staff are now distributing this surplus among the remaining seven candidates, who are chasing the four remaining seats.