Seats filled: 0

Tallies indicate first big wins and losses in tight races

14.53 Sinn Féin still has a chance of winning a third seat in Tipperary South, insists party is loyal

Martin Browne still has a chance of retaining a seat for Sinn Féin in Tipperary South, insisted his party colleague, Cllr David Dunne.

At around 2.35pm, the Cashel-based SF candidate was in fifth place, behind Mattie McGrath, FG Michael Murphy, FF Imelda Goldsboro and non-party Seamus Healy.

Will Sinn Féin lose the seat it gained in 2020, the first for the party in Tipperary since the state was founded? “Absolutely not,” said Cllr Dunne.

“I think we’re in with a very strong cry for last place. 100 per cent. A large number of votes are in O’Heney, which is geography that suits us because it’s west Tipperary, near Cashel.

“I expect we’ll get more transfers from that block, and that should put us above Seamus Healy. We’re deadlocked with Seamus Healy at the moment. Whoever goes through should win the spot over Imelda (Goldsboro).

Cllr Dunne said Sinn Féin nationally is willing to talk to anyone about forming a coalition government. “That’s the mature thing to do. That’s what adults do. They talk to each other.

“We’ve been treated like second-class citizens by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That’s what they’re doing. It’s not good for democracy.”

Cllr Dunne said he heard political commentator Gerard Howlin on the radio: “Gerard Howlin is no friend of Sinn Fein – he said it is bad for democracy, to keep a block of votes away for a period.

“It happened in Italy, with the Communist Party. We have to talk. We want to build a government. We want to solve the problems and we want to work for the people.

“Personally, I want us to be the leading party. We won’t know for a few days who will get the most seats. But we could go back to the polls again.

“If you have a four-party government, it is on a knife’s edge all the time. Labor will jump through hoops to get into government, that’s what Labor does. But it will hurt Labor in the long term.”

Meanwhile, the Green Party is being “decimated” as far as he could tell, Cllr Dunne said.

Housing was the main issue that kept coming up, he said. “Housing, living expenses and childcare. When Simon Harris made that mistake, that question came up on the doors a lot. The carers came out very upset, says Cllr Dunne

12.48 Fianna Fáil back in battle in Tipperary South

Fianna Fáil Cllr Imelda Goldsboro has returned to third place in Tipperary South according to the latest figures, just ahead of independent candidate Seamus Healy.

With 64pc of the boxes opened in Tipperary South the standings are: Independent Mattie McGrath – 24.5pc, FG Cllr Michael Murphy – 21.2pc, FF Cllr Imelda Goldsboro – 13.4pc, Independent Seamus Healy – 11.5pc, 113pc Browne. pc and Independent Cllr John O’Heney – 10.1pc.

11.52 “No place in our democracy for destroying posters”

With Mayor of Clonmel FG Cllr Michael Murphy in second place in Tipperary South, the Fine Gael team in Tipperary are delighted to be looking strongly at reclaiming a seat in what was traditionally considered a heartland.

Cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council, Declan Burgess, said “it has been a fantastic outing for Michael Murphy and the Fine Gael party. A lot of energy and professionalism went into this campaign.

“We haven’t had a Fine Gael TD in the county since 2016, so there was an appetite for our supporters, constituents, and indeed our party, to reclaim that Dáil vote. And it looks like we will in Michael Murphy.”

Cllr Murphy had a strong outing in 2011, and now looks set to take that Dáil seat, which is “massive and it’s a really exciting time”, Cllr Burgess said.

Tipperary South “look very interesting at the moment. Mattie is very strong as a dominant. Third place is anyone. I think Seamus Healy could have it at the moment, depending on how the rest of the line-ups go.

“Martin Browne is still not out of the running. Imelda Goldsboro is still not out of the running, but time will tell.

Housing was a hot topic, and in particular the provision of affordable and social housing. “It was an important issue – but the cost of living, the cost of doing business, was a main issue I hear outside the door.

“A key issue was children’s disability services, access to education – those were really for me the most important issues I heard out the door in this election.”

Vandalism and defacement of election posters were seen in Tipperary South, with attacks on candidates’ posters from across the political divide. Cllr Murphy’s posters were targeted in the Fethard area and his constituency office was vandalised.

Cllr Burgess said: “It’s disgusting, it’s disgraceful. It shouldn’t be happening. We have to protect our democracy at all costs. It’s so important to us.

“Posting is unfortunately an element of election work and I know, in 2019, when I stood for my first election, if it wasn’t for posting, I don’t know if I would have gotten my name out there.

“I agree that we probably need to restructure how we post. I don’t think it’s acceptable for anyone to go out and steal posters, destroy posters, and we’ve seen quite a bit of that.

“I believe it was a targeted attempt at Michael Murphy as more of his posters were destroyed. I have no time for that – it has no place in our democracy and it should not be accepted by anyone,” concluded Cllr Burgess.

10.55 Community activist Seamus Healy in third place in South Tipperary

The current state of the numbers in Tipperary South are: independent Mattie McGrath on 26pc, FG Cllr Michael Murphy – 18.9pc, independent Seamus Healy – 14.5pc, FF Cllr Imelda Goldsboro – 13.5pc and Sinn Fs Martin Browne on 11.6pc.

Clonmel-based Seamus Healy has campaigned for Clonmel Hospital and has a long history of serving as a TD.

Mr Healy said it was too early to call at 10.50am with only 26 of the boxes open. “At the moment I’m in third place, but the first two places seem to be Mattie McGrath and Michael Murphy from Fine Gael. There will be three or four candidates for the last place and it will all depend on transfers,” he said.

Mr Healy said: “I’m confident we’ll have a chance to fight for the final spot.”

His team, which is associated with the Workers Unemployed Action Group (WUAG), based in Clonmel, was met with a positive response on the doorstep.

“You have to get number one,” he said. “So far the trends seem to be pretty good, but it’s way too early to tell.”

Housing and homelessness were at the top of the agenda on people’s minds. Negligence around Clonmel has come up as an election issue.

Clonmel is no different to any other major town in that respect, he said. “There is negligence in all cities. Clonmel is a very good town – lots of employment, with good facilities.”

The cost of living, disability services and services for children were increasing all the time. Mr Healy has been a community activist for many years and was involved in campaigns to save emergency hospital services. “I’ve actually been an activist since I was 14, so hopefully all these things will help at the end of the day,” he added.

Meanwhile, the first election results may be announced around 6:00 p.m., a source said.

10.35 Mattie McGrath is ‘local and he’s singing’

Early figures have shown independent candidate Mattie McGrath is doing well in Tipperary South, but his daughter, Cllr Máirin McGrath said it is too early to tell… “There are a lot of boxes to open,” she said at the count center in Thurles. “I wouldn’t say anything too certain. There’s a lot to play for. There’s a lot of candidates up there. I’m not going to make any calls at this stage.”

Cllr McGrath said the mood in their camp was upbeat, given they knocked on a lot of doors and covered a lot of ground during the election campaign.

– We got a pretty good response. We were happy with it. Hopefully that will translate into votes today.” The main issues that kept coming up on the doorstep were the cost of living, housing and immigration.

“A lot of people told us, ‘You were the only ones who called or knocked on the door.’ They were even grateful for that.”

What is Mattie McGrath’s secret ingredient? “He’s independent. He’s vocal. He’s not a TD you’ve only heard about for the last five years. He’s local and he’s vocal and he speaks his mind,” added Cllr Mc

10.20 Mattie McGrath leads the pack in Tipperary South

Very early figures show independent candidate Mattie McGrath as expected doing well in Tipperary South, with FG Cllr Michael Murphy, FF Cllr Imelda Goldsboro, and Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne also doing well.

9.32 The boxes open in Tipperary

And so it begins. Boxes from across the Premier County of Tipperary have been collected and sorted at the counting center at Presentation Secondary School in Thurles.

Tipperary returning officer James Seymour announced the opening of the boxes and the first count shortly after 9.20am. The first measurements are expected in about an hour.

We will keep you updated throughout the day from Thurles.

The two new constituencies of Tipperary North and Tipperary South – both three-seat – have a combined population of around 133,000: over 64,000 in the north and over 68,000 in the south.

Twelve candidates for three seats are vying for the office in Tipperary South, also from many different backgrounds.

These include Labour’s Michael ‘Chicken’ Brennan, a hotel manager from Fethard, Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne (Cashel), computer engineer and independent Bill Fitzgerald (Cahir), Fianna Fáil Cllr Imelda Goldsboro (Ballingarry), community worker and independent Seamus Healy (Clonmel), the pensioner and Green Party candidate Myriam Madigan (Clonmel), teacher and Aontú candidate Rosemary McGlone (Co Down), National Party lorry driver John McGrath (Hollyford), independent Mattie McGrath (Newcastle), Cllr Michael Murphy of Fine Gael (Clonmel), self-employed independent Cllr John O’Heney (Lattin), and strategy director Nadaline Webster of Independent Ireland, based in Hospital, Co Limerick.

Mattie McGrath is widely expected to take the first seat in Tipperary South with the Mayor of Clonmel, FG Cllr Michael Murphy tipped to take the second seat, with his strong base around Clonmel.

But this is all guesswork and the pundits could be wrong – this election is sure to throw up some big surprises with polls showing the three main parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, on around 20 per cent in the polls. each. How that translates to Tipperary’s bill is anyone’s guess.