More joy for Sinn Féin as Pat Buckley set to top poll in Cork East
The final tally of all the boxes in Cork East shows SF's Pat Buckley on 22.96% of the votes and he will easily win the first seat.
The prospects for FG junior minister David Stanton have improved and many believe that he will now win the second seat being well ahead of his running partner Pa O'Driscoll.
FF's Kevin O'Keeffe at 13.45% is only marginally ahead of his running partner James O'Connor, who has 13.3%. As the majority of the candidates likely to be eliminated throughout this evening and tonight are from the southern end of the constituency it's seen as likely that O'Connor will overtake O'Keeffe and should get the third seat.
This will leave outgoing TDs O'Keeffe and Sean Sherlock (Lab) in a titanic battle for the fourth and final seat, Sherlock has 12.13% of the first preferences, according to the tallymen.
O'Keeffe may prove to be more transfer-friendly than Sherlock and FF followers are banking on it to ensure they get two seats
He is likely to pick up some transfers from Mary Linehan-Foley (NP), who is from the FF gene pool.
However, Sherlock will be banking on getting some transfers from Buckley.
It's all to play for on the last seat.
