Lawless gets top vote in Kildare North first count

As predicted by the tallies James Lawless (FF) has topped the poll in Kildare South.

With 8734 first preference votes, he is in pole position to retain his seat.

No one has reached the quota of 9505, so no one has been elected. Sean Gill and Avril Corcoran have been eliminated and their votes will now be distributed.

Aidan Farrelly pulled in 7611 first preference votes for the Social Democrats. It looks like Fianna Fail will take a second seat with Naoise O'Cearúil polling well and Fine Gael's Joe Neville should get a seat too. Reada Cronin also performed well.

Fine Gael's strategy of running three candidates may hinder Bernard Durkan's chances of retaining his seat.

There are five seats in this constituency. The electorate was 95,055 and the total poll was 57,386. There were 357 spoiled votes and the valid poll was 57,029.

First count for Kildare North

Naoise O'Cearuil (FF) - 5872

Bill Clear (Non Party) - 2906

Avril Corcoran (The Irish People) - 533

Réada Cronin (SF) - 6806

Bernard Durkan (FG) - 4632

Aidan Farrelly (SD) - 7611

Angela Feeney (Lab) - 3337

Sean Gill - (Centre Gael Party of Ireland) - 67

Caroline Hogan (SF) - 1244

James Lawless (FF) - 8734

Vincent P Martin (Green) - 2059