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AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Labour win Dublin as EU counts continue

We five MEPs elected out of a total 14 seats.

LAST UPDATE | 11 Jun

IT WAS THE FOURTH day of the marathon count for local elections, the third for European elections, and the second for the Limerick mayoral election.

In the European elections, we now have five MEPs elected, following the completion of the vote in Dublin.

Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews, Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty, Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan and Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin all crossed the line after the counting finished this evening.

Sitting MEPs Clare Daly and Ciaran Cuffe missed out after being eliminated earlier in the day.

On Monday, Fine Gael’s Seán Kelly topped the polls in Ireland South. Counting is continuing there to elect additional MEPs.

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan looks set to be re-elected in the Midlands North West constituency, while Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen and Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry are almost neck and neck behind him.

Almost all the councillors have been elected. You can find an area-by-area list of them here.

In Limerick, Independent candidate John Moran has won the race to become the county’s first directly-elected mayor.

You can find all the latest count results on the Euros here.

Good morning! 

Jane Matthews here as we begin day 4 of the count for the local elections, day 3 for the European elections and day 2 for the Limerick Mayoral election. 

Here’s a closer look at what is happening in Limerick. 

For the historic mayoral election, we are currently on count eight with eight of the 15 candidates eliminated.

No one has yet to reach the quota of 39,873 votes. 

John Moran is leading the pack with 19,719 votes, some 5,000 above Helen O’Donnell who currently holds second place with 14,288 votes. 

Fianna Fáil candidate Dee Ryan is coming in third on 12,937 votes. 

It is expected that Limerick’s (and the country’s) first directly elected Mayor will be elected by the end of the day. 

European Elections - Nina Carberry overtakes Barry Cowen

Counting finished up for the night in the Midlands North-West constituency after midnight last night.

Our reporter Diarmuid Pepper was there to keep us up to speed – and it looks like it is going to be a nail biting day once counting resumes, with Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen almost neck-and-neck in second place. 

Late last night Carberry overtook Cowen for second place with the pair closing the night with 74,110 and 74,041 votes respectively. 

Far-right Ireland First candidate Margaret Alacoque Maguire was eliminated in the last count finishing up with 3,284 votes. 

Incumbent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan looks set to be the first MEP elected in the constituency with the highest number of votes. 

Other contenders in the race for the five seats are incumbent MEP Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh and Independent Ireland candidate Ciarán Mullooly.

Don’t fully rule out Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew, Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers or Aontú’s Peadar Tóibín just yet either – although they would need to do very well from transfers.

Follow the latest here with our European elections tracker. 

Local elections

And in the locals… In Laois, Fine Gael’s Vivienne Phelan was reelected to the final seat for Graiguecullen-Portarlington. 

Hoist! Hoist! Hoist! 

With just 12 seats left to be filled across the country, we will bring you the latest here throughout the day.

What’s happening in the rest of Europe?

As our colleagues in AFP have put it, the EU bloc has been plunged into political turmoil. 

Across Europe, far-right parties were winners in many places causing Europe’s stock markets and the euro to slide. 

In France, Italy and Austria far-right parties came out on top – prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap general election. 

While in Germany, AfD came second and the hard-right has also done well in the Netherlands. 

France is now set for a busy period with National Assembly elections to begin on June 30. A second round will be held on July 7, just ahead of the Paris Olympics which kick off on July 26. 

Contains reporting from AFP 

Sitting MEP Grace O’Sullivan says she felt afraid at count centres while she awaited results for Ireland South.

“There were people around me who hurled awful abuse at me online,” she told Claire Byrne on RTÉ.

“The whole trend to engage in a sensible way and a fair way just doesn’t happen there anymore.”

O’Sullivan blames social media “echo chambers” for amplifying negative sentiment towards her.

In a Whatsapp voice message sent to Fine Gael candidates this morning, Simon Harris said he was thrilled with the party’s projected performance.

“This is a testament to to your hard work, the work we’ve done on the ground, and the listening and responding we’ve done to key issues of concerns raised by people,” he said.

“I’ve been Taoiseach for 63 days … all these results will do is make me work hard and deliver more for people, so keep at it.”

Elections 2024 5_90706910 Harris accompanied Fine Gael colleagues candidates at the RDS count centre on Saturday RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

Well there, how is everyone? Rónán Duffy here manning the liveblog for the next while.

A fascinating night of election results last night, with first counts in Midlands-North West and Ireland South and a Dublin count that’s bubbling up to a crescendo. 

Diarmuid Pepper, our man in the MNW count centre in the TF Royal, has been on to say that the fourth count should be coming in soon. 

Before we get that fourth count in MNW, the current situation is that not much has changed since the first count last night, which saw sitting Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan top the poll ahead of Fine Gael candidate Nina Carberry. 

Carberry is new to politics but she has a huge public persona as being a former elite jockey and now a TV personality known to many from RTÉ shows Dancing With The Stars and Ireland’s Fittest Family.

former-jockey-and-fine-gael-candidate-for-the-midlandsnorth-west-constituency-at-the-2024-european-parliament-elections-nina-carberry-with-taoiseach-simon-harris-on-day-three-of-the-punchestown-festi Nina Carberry with Taoiseach Simon Harris at at Punchestown Racecourse, County Kildare. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The selection of Carberry to run for Fine Gael is part of what is what is now a well-known route from TV to Brussels.

The most successful example is perhaps that of former RTÉ journalist and presenter Mairead McGuinness was who was elected to Europe in 2004. 

McGuinness went on to be re-elected on three occasions and is of course now Ireland’s representative in the European Commission.

Before Carberry was sitting MEP and former Rose of Tralee winner Maria Walsh, who polled fourth in yesterday’s first count and should be returned. 

Limerick mayoral race - Just four left as Maurice Quinlivan (SF) eliminated

Sinn Fein’s Maurice Quinlivan has been eliminated from the race to become Ireland’s first directly-elected mayor.

He is the eleventh candidate to been eliminated from race, with just four now remaining.

The Sinn Fein TD’s votes will now be distributed among the remaining candidates, which includes the frontrunner John Moran, independent candidate Helen O’Donnell, Fianna Fail’s Dee Ryan and Fine Gael’s Daniel Butler.

O’Donnell has a Fine Gael background and if Butler is eliminated she will hope to benefit from his transfers to bring her closer to Moran. 

This is the current state of play: 

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sinn-feins-maurice-quinlivan-is-eliminated-from-the-count-at-limerick-racecourse-in-limericks-mayoral-election-in-which-citizens-voted-to-directly-elect-their-own-mayor-for-the-first-time-in-the-his Sinn Fein's Maurice Quinlivan is eliminated from the count at Limerick Racecourse. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Quinlivan’s performance will be a disappointment for himself and indeed another for Sinn Féin. 

While the constituency boundaries aren’t the same, Quinlivan got 24% of the vote to top the poll in the general election in Limerick City in 2020, whereas in he won just 10% of the vote of first preferences yesterday. 

Speaking afterward his elimination today, Quinlivan said: “It’s a long count. The count is progressing and I want to thank everybody who came out and voted for myself.

“I really appreciate every single person who took time to come out, but also to thank those people who engaged in the mayoral campaign in the last number of weeks.

“I think it was a really positive campaign. One of the most positive campaigns we have been involved in.

“All the candidates did themselves good. So, I want to wish whoever wins all the best for the role.”

Count 4 in Midlands-North West

The latest count from Midlands-North West is in. This consists of the transferring of 3,284 votes from Margaret “Alacoque” Maguire. 

Maguire is the vice president of the Ireland First party, which is headed by anti-immigration agitator Derek Blighe.

Unsurprisingly, Hermann Kelly of the Irish Freedom Party did well from her transfers, getting 478 votes, but it has not changed the overall picture all that much

James Reynolds of the National Party is next to be eliminated in MNW. 

Speaking yesterday, Reynolds reportedly said he will never run for the far-right National Party again, saying he sees it as a ‘toxic brand’.

Dublin Count 14 - Doolan's transfers push Lynn Boylan back into third

An important moment in the Dublin count as Dáithí Doolan’s 11,822 transfers go heavily to his Sinn Féin colleague Lynn Boylan, putting her back into third place. 

It was always likely of course that the pair would transfer well to each other but this was particularly well-managed, with Boylan benefitting from about 63% of Doolan’s transfers. 

This is what it now does for the race.

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Next to be eliminated in the Dublin count will be Aisling Considine of Aontú, whose transfers will go a long way to determining the outcome of the fourth seat. 

Niall Boylan (II) is currently in the fourth position have benefitting from transfers from transfers from various right-leaning candidates who have already been eliminated. 

He has a buffer of about 6,000-8,000 votes to Ciarán Cuffe (GP) and Aódhán Ó Ríordáin (LAB) but it’s expected that they will benefit to a greater extent from some of the transfers to come from the likes of Sinead Gibney (SD). 

Therefore, Niall Boylan will hope that the buffer he currently has is given a sufficient boost by the transfers from Considine, whose votes will be counted next. 

The count officials in the RDS have been moving at a decent clip since yesterday so should get the next count in the afternoon. 

Peter Casey, who was a runner-up in the 2018 presidential election but followed that up with failed attempts to be elected in the 2019 European elections and the 2020 general election, looks like he might finally pack it in after another failed bid for Brussels. 

He hasn’t been eliminated yet but he’s conceding defeat and has said in a tweet that he will “never be putting up posters again”. 

The aforementioned posters for the latest campaign implored voters to ‘Stop The Madness!’.

It appears it is he who may be stopped in the end.  

Count 15 in Dublin

Woah, that was quick!

We have another count in the Dublin, and it’s the distribution of Aisling Considine’s (Aon) 14,117 votes. 

As we spoke of earlier, Niall Boylan (II) was the biggest beneficiary of the votes but it’s difficult to say if the 3,223 transfers he’s received will be enough, he maybe would have been hoping for more. 

Here’s the state of play

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Political reporter Jane Matthews has been taking a look at one of the things you may have missed last night.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan  had a bit of a go at candidates from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who gave out about the Green Party during their campaigns. 

The three parties have to date maintained a collegial working relationship while in coalition together, but in recent weeks the Greens have faced attacks from some of their coalition colleagues during the rough and tumble of the local and European elections campaigns. 

Regina Doherty (FG), on track to become an MEP, pledged to be a “watchdog” in the EU for the Greens and accused the party of dividing Dublin city with cycle lanes “like East and West Berlin”.

The Green Party has also faced attacks from within the Fianna Fáil ranks, with senator and MEP candidate Lisa Chambers calling earlier in the campaign for her party to cut ties with the Greens.

billy-kelleher-speaks-to-a-member-of-an-garda-siochana-as-he-arrives-at-nemo-rangers-gaa-club-in-cork-ireland-during-the-count-for-the-european-elections-picture-date-tuesday-june-11-2024 Billy Kelleher shares a joke with a member of An Garda Siochana. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Things are ramping up down in the Nemo Rangers count centre for Ireland South. Activity is now focused on distributing surplus and we have multiple counts to go before Billy Kelleher is expected to be the next elected.

Our News Correspondent Niall O’Connor is down there and he’s hearing suggestions that the next count result could be sometime after 3pm.

Meanwhile, we have have another count in Limerick and we’ve seen a relatively even split of transfers from Maurice Quinlivan to the four remaining candidates. 

It’s meant that there’s no change to the overall order, with Fine Gael’s Daniel Butler now next to be eliminated. 

This next count will likely prove decisive one way or another, with Helen O’Donnell needing significant help to take her closer to front-runner John Moran. It’s looking a difficult task though, with Moran increasingly looking likely to be Ireland’s first directly elected mayor. 

Moran brought his dog Henri to the count centre to check everything is above board. 

fine-gael-candidate-daniel-butler-as-counting-continues-at-limerick-racecourse-in-limericks-mayoral-election-in-which-citizens-voted-to-directly-elect-their-own-mayor-for-the-first-time-in-the-histor Fine Gael's Daniel Butlerat the count at Limerick Racecourse. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Butler will have to console himself with his re-election to the council but, speaking about his elimination from the mayoral contest, he said he had been “it to win it.”

There was a lot against us. We came in very late, we came in in the middle a change of leadership in the Fine Gael party and my director of elections lost his mother during it, and our house was threatened, and the safety of our family was threatened and compromised during the election.

“But we fought on and fought a very good campaign, and I think the vote that I got is reflective of the energy and innovation that I fought in the campaign.

“I fought a very high-calibre campaign and delivered a lot in a short period of time.”

PastedImage-40254 Oireachtas.ie Oireachtas.ie

As the counting goes in the European and local elections, politics goes on in Leinster House, with Leaders’ Questions kicking off at 2pm.

Speaking earlier today before going into a Cabinet meeting, Taoiseach Simon Harris refused to be drawn into the chances of a “hypothetical” autumn election. 

Look, my intention in relation to the general election hasn’t changed. I am very pleased with the results from the local and European elections. My party has received more first preference votes than any other party in the local elections. I think that’s only the second time that’s ever happened. And my party has received more first references in the European elections. 

“I also know that local elections and European elections are very different to general elections, I’ve been Taoiseach for 63 days and politics is all about delivery. And there’s a number of things that I really want to work on and focus on.” 

Count 5 in Midlands-North West

The distribution of James Reynolds’s (NP) transfers have been completed, a bit of a scattergun that won’t change the big picture. 

Ciarán Mullooly (II) did quite well from them though, perhaps confirming the theory that he will be quite transfer friendly and is therefore in a good position to take a seat.

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Count 2 in Ireland South

We also have a second count in Ireland South, this count was the distribution of Seán Kelly’s (FG) surplus of 8,016. 

Kelly’s running mate John Mullins (FG) got the biggest share but probably not big enough to bring him into the reckoning. In fact, Fianna Fáil’s two candidates combined got more transfers from Kelly than Mullins did himself. 

Fine Gael will probably look back at this ticket and feel they could have done better on both vote management and perhaps the selection of the Cork-based Mullins. 

Ireland South emcompases a large area and a candidate from the south-east would perhaps have been more balanced. 

Ciarán O’Riordan has been eliminated in Ireland South and his votes will now be redistributed.

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Diarmuid Pepper reporting at Castlebar for the Midlands-North-West count

Senator Niall Blaney had made what he calls a “flying visit” to Castlebar and acknowledges that “it’s extremely unlikely I’ll be elected”.

He said party colleague Barry Cowen “will need transfers from both myself and Lisa Chambers to get over the line but he should do so comfortably.”

When asked if Fianna Fáil got their campaign wrong in running three candidates, Blaney says “it is what it is”.

“I’m not a man who holds grudges,” said Blaney, “I say what I have to say, when I need to say it, and I’ve done that.”

IMG_5544 Niall Blaney speaking outside the count centre in Castlebar Diarmuid Pepper / The Journal Diarmuid Pepper / The Journal / The Journal

When quizzed on his public row with Micheál Martin and himself at the press conference to launch the party’s European election manifesto, Blaney remarked: “I’ve said what I had to say and made my reasons for doing so at the time.

“People have made their own analysis of that since. It is what it is and I’ll see where I go from here.”

He adds that he won’t be running for a seat in the Dáil as “we only have room for Dáil seat in Donegal”, which is currently held by Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue.

“I’m very pleased with the fantastic vote I got in Donegal,” said Blaney, “and it’s time to step back and analyse everything over the coming weeks and see where I go from here personally.”

Blaney added that he would “consider” running again for the Seanad again. 

COUNT 16 - DUBLIN

Muiris O’Cearbhaill here, taking over the liveblog for the afternoon.

We have just recieved the results of the sixteenth count from the Dublin constituency after the votes from the Social Democrats’ Sinéad Gibney were distributed following her elimination.

It was understood yesterday that the Green Party’s incumbent MEP Ciarán Cuffe and Labour Party candidate Aodhán Ó Riordáin were hopeful that they would both benefit from Gibney’s transfers.

Both candidates have recieved the largest portion of the Social Democrats’ candidate’s votes, with Ó Riordáin receiving 4,433 transfers and Cuffe receiving 3,207.

This has not been enough for any candidate contesting for the fourth seat in Dublin to surpass Independent Ireland candidate Niall Boylan, however.

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People Before Profit’s candidate Bríd Smith has now been eliminated.

People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith, who has just been eliminated from the European elections race after the sixteenth count in Dublin, spoke to our reporter in the RDS, Emma Hickey.

Smith told The Journal that she was “glad it’s all over”.

“It’s a long old haul, even though it’s only a few days. But is is a long haul,” she said.

Smith said that she hopes Independent4Change incumbent MEP Clare Daly will benefit from her transfers, adding that she had been calling for a transfer pact between herself and Daly.

“I’d love to see that happen. This has been a weird election, the way the transfers are going. [There's] very unlikely transfers from all angles to all angles, but I have called for a strong transfer.”

She said this election has been an opportunity for People Before Profit to showcase some of their new talent from the left-wing, and hopes that their success at local level translates to success in the next general election as well.

Count 11 - Limerick

It’s all coming in quickly here, as Fianna Fáil’s Dee Ryan has been excluded from the mayoral election in Limerick after the eleventh count.

No one has hit the quota as of yet, but it is still looking very likely that independent candidate John Moran will be elected after the next count.

One of Fianna Fáil’s European candidate in Ireland South, Cynthia Ní Murchú, who’s in contention to take the fourth seat, says she felt that she was never underestimated during her campaign.

She told reporters in Nemo Rangers GAA club in co Cork, where votes are being counted, that the results of the first few counts from the large constituency are a “huge testament” to the work of her, Fianna Fáil and her team.

Ní Murchú added that, after being selected by the party to contest Ireland South in early March: “It was a real hitting the ground, from the very start.”

The former television presenter said that she had felt confident to run as she viewed her pitch to Fianna Fáil as a “business plan”.

“There was no overestimation or underestimation of the business plan. We just had a realistic plan. The idea of being under or overestimated didn’t actually feature.

“We just knew we had a very long campaign to do. We were really clear we had to do a really tough, ground campaign – military style – allied to social media, regular media, local papers and everything else to do with the media,” she added.

“We were very keen to knuckle down.”

Our reporter Emma Hickey has the lastest after Count 16 for the Dublin constituency.

While Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty are almost certainly guaranteed seats in the European Parliament, things are getting interesting in the race for the third and fourth seats.

Currently fourth, Niall Boylan of Independent Ireland is less than 6,000 votes ahead of Green candidate Ciarán Cuffe – who in turn is only 439 votes ahead of Labour’s Aodhan  Ó Riordáin.

Bríd Smith, People Before Profit’s candidate, has just been eliminated in count 16.

She told The Journal that she’s “glad it’s all over”, and is championing Independents4Change candidate Clare Daly – who she hopes will be the main beneficiary of her votes as they are distributed.

Daly is currently on the lowest number of votes – but with Smith’s votes being distributed, there may be a chance for her to stay in the race for the moment.

Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan got a welcomed boost from the distribution of votes this morning after her running mate Daithí Doolan was eliminated yesterday evening.

The Sinn Féin senator managed to retain her third-place spot after the last count as a result of the gap created from Doolan’s transfers. It is, however, a gap that could shrink as we head into the next count.

With all this counting and excitement, some of us might forget just how long this process is actually taking.

For those who aren’t as glued to this as we are, you can follow the latest results on our new count centre, available here.

Our reporter Sadbh Cox has also laid out the must-know information below, such as: When might we actually know the results of this thing?

COUNT 3 - IRELAND SOUTH

No progress in Ireland South as Ciaran O’Riordan’s votes have now been transferred.

Independent candidate and Clare TD Michael McNamara received the highest transfers, 292, and Sinn Féin candidate Paul Gavan recieved the fewest, 18.

Independents4Change incumbent MEP Mick Wallace recieved 235 transfers. The Irish Freedom Party’s Michael Leahy and Ireland First’s Derek Blighe recieved 156 transfers and 135 transfers, respectively.

Independent candidate Christopher VS Doyle has been eliminated.

Ireland South count 3

Diarmuid Pepper reporting from Castlebar at the Midlands-North-West count

Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew has told reporters in Castlebar she is “resigned” to not winning a seat.

“It’s not over until the last count has been completed,” said Gildernew, who noted that she once won an election by a single vote.

However, she added: “We didn’t get the result we wanted, we’re still in the mix, but I’m not overly optimistic that I can overtake Ciaran Mullooly, he will probably scrape in with the last seat.”

She adds that she doesn’t regret her decision to run in the European elections.

Gildernew is currently MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, and will not contest the upcoming UK general election – Pat Cullen will run for Sinn Féin instead, and Gildernew said she doesn’t regret not running again to retain her Westminster seat either.

“Every time you run in an election, you’re taking a chance,” said Gildernew.

“I don’t regret the decision that I’ve made.”

Referencing the loss of her nephew earlier this month after getting into difficulty in a Co Tyrone lake, Gildernew remarks: “This is a setback but it is definitely not a tragedy; I know what that feels like this week.

“I don’t have any regrets at all about the decision I made.”

IMG_5548 Sinn Féin's Chris MacManus and Michelle Gildernew in Castlebar Diarmuid Pepper / The Journal Diarmuid Pepper / The Journal / The Journal

She adds that Sinn Féin is keen for a general election and that the government has run out of steam, and notes that she will quickly shift to trying to elect Pat Cullen to the Westminster seat she currently holds.

Diarmuid Pepper reporting from Castlebar at the Midlands-North-West count

Reporters also spoke to Sinn Féin’s Chris McManus, who said the size of the constituency makes it difficult for candidates and that it can be difficult to engage with voters.

MacManus was co-opted into the European Parliament when Matt Carthy was elected to the Dáil in 2020.

He pointed to the “difficulty in having not come through a previous European Election” and remarked that “name and face recognition is a massive asset to have”.

Speaking on a candidate who certainly does have name and face recognition, MacManus says that while the electorate has to be respected, “maybe there is an issue there to be addressed” for people like himself in showing people the importance of the work of incumbent MEPs.

He also calls for the constituencies to be changed to “give them their own sense of identity”.

MacManus said it’s time for Sinn Féin to “sit back and analyse and review what happened and to listen to what the electorate have been saying to us” and that the party will then look towards who will be the candidates for the next general election.

Our reporter in co Cork Niall O’Connor has the latest from the Ireland South count centre:

While other constituencies appear to be full of drama here in Ireland South things are more of a slow burn.

The momentary excitement of last night’s election of Sean Kelly has dissipated as the long hard slog begins to eliminate less successful candidates.

We are on count three here but will likely have to wait until count ten or eleven before Billy Kelleher gets the nod for the next seat.

The latest count eliminated Christopher Doyle and they have begun distributing those votes.

We’ll have another announcement in the next hour.

Count 6 - Midlands-North-West

No change in Midlands-North-West after the distribution of People Before Profit’s Brian O’Boyle’s votes.

Independent incumbent MEP Luke Ming Flanagan is still likely to get a seat, after receiving a 563-vote transfer from O’Boyle which widened his lead further. 

Independent candidate Saoirse McHugh also benefited from transfers on this count, receiving 558 votes. 

The National Party’s Justin Barrett has been eliminated from the race.

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Our news correspondent Órla Ryan is at the European Parliament in Brussels where post-election conferences have been taking place over the last number of days.

The television crews are beginning to dismantle the production stands which were used for the Parliament’s bumper TV election special, where it reviewed the outcome of exit polls from other EU member states.

Órla caught some pictures of the Parliament on a quiet post-election Tuesday evening.

1000014928 Órla Ryan / The Journal Órla Ryan / The Journal / The Journal

1000014938 Órla Ryan / The Journal Órla Ryan / The Journal / The Journal

In Belgium, federal elections also took place on the same day the country went to the polls for the European elections.

The result of the elections were not favourable for the incumbent Prime Minister Alexander De Croo as his Flemish liberal party were outpolled by far-right and other conservative parties from the Flemish region.

De Croo resigned shortly after the results, but has yet to take down some of his election posters.

1000014952 Órla Ryan / The Journal Órla Ryan / The Journal / The Journal

1000014951 Órla Ryan / The Journal Órla Ryan / The Journal / The Journal

Speaking about the elections to other reporters, Órla says that the journalists were shocked that Ireland still are none-the-wiser about who our next MEPs are.

This gave her the opportunity to inform the European press of the joys of PR-STV.

Hello – this is Eoghan Dalton here for the evening.

I’m starting my watch in eventful fashion as it transpires that despite getting the most of Bríd Smith’s transfers, outgoing MEP Clare Daly has been eliminated.

She is the first MEP to lose her seat in this election.

Reacting to her elimination, Daly said her candidacy was to be a representative of “peace, antimilitarism and neutrality”, and that her defeat is “not a rejection of those ideas”.

It is testament to the success and reach of the work we’ve done that the establishment came out in such force to harm my chances of reelection.

COUNT 17 – DUBLIN

Let’s now take a closer look at the results of the 17th count from the Dublin constituency after the votes from People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith were distributed following her elimination.

As mentioned, Clare Daly was hopeful to receive a hefty chunk of these and while she did manage this with 6,464 transfers it still wasn’t enough to prevent her elimination.

She was approximately 1,000 votes behind the Green Party’s incumbent MEP Ciarán Cuffe, who received 2,551 transfers from Smith.

Labour’s Aodhán Ó Riordáin remains just ahead of Cuffe with 41,911 total votes – this was after 4,508 extra from PBP’s candidate.
hopeful that they would both benefit from Gibney’s transfers.

Of the other candidates, Niall Boylan of Independent Ireland received the lowest share of Smith’s transfers at 1,290 and Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin received 5,899.

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LIMERICK MAYOR RESULT

And some news just breaking as John Moran has been named as the first directly elected mayor of Limerick.

John Moran, a former senior civil servant in the Department of Finance, has been elected mayor of Limerick, the first time that the electorate has been able to vote for someone to hold the position.

Moran, who ran as an independent, had topped the poll and led the race throughout, finally finishing with 28,451 votes.

Independent candidate Helen O’Donnell came second with 23,829 votes.

COUNT 4 – IRELAND SOUTH

It’s small shifts still in Ireland South as Christopher VS Doyle’s votes have now been transferred.

Independents4Change incumbent MEP Mick Wallace received the highest transfers, 273, and Aontú candidate Patrick Murphy received the fewest at 33.

Irish People candidate Ross Lahive has been eliminated.

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Back in Dublin, Clare Daly left the RDS count centre in the moments after her elimination.

It’s fair to say she was blunt when approached by RTÉ for comment: “You had no interest in talking to me for five years so I’ve no interest in talking to you.”

After a flurry of results, we now have a lull.

Niall Boylan was amusing himself earlier in between counts at the RDS in Dublin by taking a paper plane out for a spin.

unnamed (32) Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

MIDLANDS-NORTHWEST COUNT 7

Anthony Cahill from the Irish People party is the latest to be eliminated.

His 6,124 votes will now be distributed.

There has been little movement, with Luke Ming Flanagan, Nina Carberry, Barry Cowen and Maria Walsh all ahead of the chasing pack.

Ciaran Mullooly continues to occupy the final space for a seat.

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Diarmuid Pepper reporting from Castlebar at the Midlands-North-West count

Pearse Doherty has told reports that he has no interest in becoming next Sinn Féin leader.

Aontú leader and former Sinn Féin member Peadar Tóibín yesterday said he had been speaking to Sinn Féin members at count centres who had been calling for Doherty to be leader.

“Opposition will try to mix as much as they as they want,” said Doherty.

“Mary Lou McDonald will provide positive leadership and energetic leadership running into the next general election, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind in relation to that.”

He said the party has a “responsibility to come back from this year and we will” and notes that Sinn Féin “increased our vote and number of seats”.

“We’ll likely see Lynn Boylan elected soon in Dublin, we’re in the hunt for a seat in the South, we’re not out of the race here yet in Midlands-North-West.”

That’s despite Michelle Gildernew earlier reporters that she was “resigned to the fact” that Sinn Féin would not be taking a seat here.

IMG_5549 Pearse Doherty at the count in Castlebar Diarmuid Pepper / The Journal Diarmuid Pepper / The Journal / The Journal

“It’s impossible to say because we have no read as to where these transfers are going, and in Dublin, the transfers seem to be going all over the place,” said Doherty.

“I’ve been at enough counts where I’ve thought that candidates are out of the race only to find them hoisted shoulder high later on in the night, and vice versa.”

Adds that the party has a “huge responsibly” to the “many people dependent on us to make sure that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil don’t get another five years”.

“We’re up for it, Mary Lou is up for it, so we just need to get on with it.”

John Moran, the first directly elected mayor of Limerick, has said he believes that the role will “change the way Government and democracy works in Ireland”.

The independent told RTÉ Six One the city was “suffering with housing and health” like other parts of the country, and that “a lot of conversations have already started” with councillors about what he’ll do in the role.

Moran also reckons that Cork, Waterford and Dubiln will follow Limerick’s lead in the next five years.

COUNT 5 – IRELAND SOUTH

Ross Lahive of the Irish People party has seen his votes transferred.

Ireland First candidate Derek Blighe received the most, 791, followed by Michael Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party with 601 and then Mick Wallace with 406 votes.

At the other end of the scale, Lorna Bogue of Rabharta Glas received 59 transfers, Social Democrats’ candidate Susan Doyle got 64 and the incumbent Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan received 65.

Independent candidate Graham de Barra has been eliminated.

image (7)

Our reporter at the RDS Muiris O’Cearbhaill has the latest from the Dublin count:

The results of Count 18 for the Dublin European constituency will be revealed in the next 20 minutes and candidates in mix for the competitive fourth seat have arrived head of the announcement.

Green Party incumbent MEP Ciarán Cuffe returned to the RDS in the last few minutes, flanked by Ministers Roderic O’Gormain, Ossian Smyth and party leader Eamon Ryan.

Labour Party candidate Aodhán Ó Riordáin has arrived with Senator Marie Sherlock, TD Duncan Smith and party leader Ivana Bacik.

Both candidates have been hoping that transfers for more traditional left-leaning candidates, who have now been eliminated from the race, will be enough to surpass each other and Independent Ireland’s Niall Boylan, currently tipped to take the fourth seat as of the seventeenth count.

If Cuffe does not receive enough transfers from eliminated candidate Clare Daly, he will become the second incumbent MEP to not be returned by the Dublin electorate in this election.

This would leave Ó Riordáin as the only remaining candidate left contesting the fourth Dublin seat against Boylan.

Another MEP gone

The Green Party’s incumbent MEP Ciarán Cuffe has been eliminated from the Dublin count.

He is the second MEP to lose a seat in this election, following Clare Daly’s defeat earlier today.

DUBLIN COUNT 18

Sitting MEP Ciarán Cuffe was eliminated despite receiving 3,189 transfers from Clare Daly.

But the biggest beneficiary of Daly’s transfers was Lynn Boylan with 11,338. That gives her breathing room in third place behind Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty.

Aodhán Ó Riórdáin received 5,001 of Daly’s transfers while Niall Boyland of Independent Ireland saw 4,558 go his way.

No one has reached the quota, and Cuffe’s votes will be distributed next.

You can follow the count here.

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Some scenes from the RDS right after Cuffe’s elimination.

'There's good days and there's bad days' - Cuffe

Our reporter Muiris O’Cearbhaill reports from the RDS:

Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe spoke to reporters after he was eliminated from the Dublin constituency and became the second MEP not to be returned to the European Parliament.

“There’s good days in politics and there’s bad days too,” Cuffe said.

Cuffe thanked everyone who had helped him on the campaign, namely his family, wife, children and teams in Dublin and Brussels. He added later that he was “really, deeply disappointed”.

“I would say, look, this isn’t a good day for me. But the issues that we stand for are much bigger than one election, much bigger than one person or indeed one party. 

“We’ve been around a long time and the issues that we represent and our party will be around for a long time,” he added.

Cuffe also thanked candidates who he said ran “upbeat, honourable campaigns”, particularly the Labour Party’s Aodhán Ó Riordáin, who is likely to overtake Niall Boylan on the next, and final, count.

“I think his message was a progressive one, it was a message about what we need to do in Europe, what we need to do together and, I think, it resonated very much with the issues and the topics that I talked about over the last month of the election campaign.”

As for the Green transition in Europe, which Cuffe attributed to in Europe by developing legislation to direct member states to retrofit public buildings, the eliminated MEP said he believed it was in safe hands.

“I think it is a time for progressive voices, I think [Sinn Féin's] Lynn Boylan had a good reputation when I was elected. People spoke well of her contribution to the European project and to being active on committees during her time there.

“I’ve no doubt that Aodhán will do the same, I think it’s really important that we send people to Europe who are committed to bringing legislation forward and working on that legislation at a European level.

“I’m proud of what I did in the green transition on bringing forward new laws on greener buildings, on the future of flying. I think that work must continue and will continue,” he said.

Cuffe said that it was the EU faces a crossroads, namely commission president Ursula von der Leyen on whether she will “join forces with right-wing populists”, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, “or whether she reaches out to those who want to see the green and social deal continue”.

IRELAND SOUTH COUNT SIX

Independent candidate Graham de Barra has has seen his votes transferred.

The Social Democrats’ Susan Doyle received the majority at 599 and the fewest went to Eddie Punch of Independent Ireland, 46.

Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion, Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher, Mick Wallace of Independents4Change and the Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan all benefitted from the transfers roughly equally, but we’re still some distance away from seeing another MEP elected.

Cian Prendiville of PBP is now eliminated and his 6,650 votes will be distributed.

You can follow the count here.

image (10)

Our man in Cork Niall O’Connor with the latest on who’s in the running here.

If you look closely you’ll spot one counter putting their brain to work before the next count.

Ciarán Cuffe pays tribute to his supporters after confirmation that he will not be returning to the European Parliament this evening.

There has been much talk about the success of the government parties in this election, but it’s interesting to see what the figures tell us when we view them over the history of European elections.

Spoiler: they don’t make pretty reading for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

My colleague Bill Breathnach has mapped out the combined vote of the parties in all European elections here.

It culminated in the two this year receiving its lowest combined first preference vote percentage, coming in at 41.2%.

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MIDLANDS-NORTHWEST COUNT 8

There hasn’t been much progress from the latest count in Castlebar, with Hermann Kelly of the Irish Freedom Party getting the most out of the transfers of the Irish People party’s Anthony Cahill.

He received 993 votes while former presidential runner-up Peter Casey got 980 transfers, with incumbent independent MEP Luke Ming Flanagan next on 642 votes.

The next candidate to be eliminated is independent Michelle Smith, with the Ballinrobe accountant’s 7,102 votes now set to be distributed.

The full details of the count are here.

image (12)

IRELAND SOUTH COUNT SEVEN

Mick Wallace is the winner from PBP’s Cian Prendiville transfers.

The incumbent received 1,214 of Prendiville’s 6,650 ballots – around 18 percent of the total.

It was significantly more than the 763 received by the Social Democrats’ Susan Doyle, with the Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan, 563, and Kathleen Funchion of Sinn Féin, 483, receiving the next highest respectively.

Independent Una McGurk is the latest to be eliminated.

You can follow the count here.

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Our reporter Muiris O’Cearbhaill is tracking the sentiment for Fianna Fáil at the RDS.

Verdict: pleased.

A result is expected soon from this count so stay tuned.

Some number crunching from incumbent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who reckons that Sinn Féin could yet be in contention for the final seat in Midlands-Northwest.

Counting is still underway tonight but in Dublin city centre local election posters are coming down for Green Party candidate Claire Byrne, who topped the poll in her area, with the help of this special poster-removing big stick.

Posters have to be removed within seven days of polling of course.

IMG_2548 Valerie Flynn / The Journal Valerie Flynn / The Journal / The Journal

Our reporter Bill Breathnach has been looking at which local authority has the highest support for Fine Gael and the answer is…Co Longford!

A whopping 43.3% of first preference votes in Longford went to Fine Gael, compared to just 10.5% in Donegal.

The heat map here shows the Fine Gael vote in 2024.

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DUBLIN COUNT RESULT

After the nineteenth count at the RDS the following candidates have been elected:

Barry Andrews, Fianna Fáil
Regina Doherty, Fine Gael
Lynn Boylan, Sinn Féin
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the Labour Party

After the distribution of votes from eliminated Green Party candidate Ciarán Cuffe, Ó Ríordáin surpassed Ireland Independent’s Niall Boylan, taking the competitive fourth seat.

And here’s how it ended in Dublin.

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Our reporter Emma Hickey has the jubilance from the RDS as all four seats were filled in the final count.

And this is how it ended in Dublin.

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Looking at the transfers on that last count, Labour’s Aodhán Ó Riordáin got a mammoth 16,614 transfers from the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe.

His rival for the final seat, Niall Boylan of Independent Ireland, received just 926 from Cuffe.

The government parties’ other representatives in the race took the top two seats.

Regina Doherty of Fine Gael got 8,717 transfers from Cuffe and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews received 7,771 transfers.

Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin, who took the third seat, received 3,649 transfers from the Greens.

The newly elected Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan has backed Mary Lou McDonald to carry on as Sinn Féin leader despite the party’s poor performance in the local and European elections.

While the party has “lessons to learn from this campaign”, Boylan said leader McDonald was a “powerful force” who she would back totally support to lead the party into the general election.

Boylan told RTÉ Prime Time argued that the elections were positive for the party, saying it was a “good day” for Sinn Féin as the party increased its vote from 9.5 percent in 2019 to just under 12 percent.

However, that was a major fall from its 2020 general election poll of 24.5 percent.

“How is it a bad election when we are the party who increased our vote,” Boylan told RTÉ, adding: “We take that as a good day, is it as good as we would have liked? No, of course not.”

Niall O’Connor reports from Ireland South count in Cork.

Count number nine is underway. Half of the count staff have been sent home so likely this is the last one of the evening. 

They are redistributing the votes of Mary Fitzgibbon, an Independent candidate. 

Ireland South Count Eight

  • Derek Blighe (IF): 27,640.
  • Lorna Bogue (RG): 10,279.
  • Susan Doyle (SD): 22,110.
  • Mary Fitzgibbon (Ind): 8,328.
  • Kathleen Funchion (SF): 52,106.
  • Paul Gavan (SF): 23,242.
  • Niamh Hourigan (Lab): 22,523.
  • Billy Kelleher (FF): 93,959.
  • Michael Leahy (IFP): 14,390.
  • Michael McNamara (Ind): 57,897.
  • John Mullins (FG): 36,599.
  • Patrick Murphy (Aon): 15,144.
  • Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (FF): 57,144.
  • Grace O’Sullivan (GP): 49,289.
  • Eddie Punch (Ind): 21,903.
  • Mick Wallace (I4C): 55,967.

Mary Fitzgibbon now eliminated for count eight.

Quick breather from the counts to note this from Sarah McInerney.

Some very happy scenes from Labour as Aodhán Ó Ríordáin claimed the final MEP seat in Dublin.

unnamed (33) Senator Marie Sherlock, the new MEP and party leader Ivana Bacik. Eamonn Farrell Eamonn Farrell

IRELAND SOUTH COUNT EIGHT

Michael McNamara, the independent Clare TD, has received a boost to his chances of a European seat after receiving 1,088 transfers from fellow independent Una McGurk.

McNamara now sits in third with 58,897 total votes, ahead of Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú on 57,144.

With 1,089 transfers, Michael Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party received one extra nod from McGurk than McNamara did. Derek Blighe of Ireland First was next with 888 transfers.

Another independent, Mary Fitzgibbon, has been eliminated and her 8,328 votes will be distributed.

You can track the vote here.

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Muiris O’Cearbhaill, signing off from the RDS:

Four MEPs have been elected to the Dublin constituency after the nineteenth count. In a dramatic end to what was a tightly contested race, Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty surpassed the 75,345-vote quota and were deemed elected.

Andrews, who topped the poll after the first count and recieved the highest number of votes until the final count, thanked staff for the “arduous” task of counting votes after receiving the second seat and being re-elected.

Andrews told reporters: “We ran a positive, pro-EU campaign. We presented that to the people of Dublin, they listened to what we had to say, we listened to what they had to say.

010European Elections_90707176 © RollingNews.ie © RollingNews.ie

“I think there was also a sense in extremist ideology on the fringes of the political spectrum and that we presented a much more positive agenda.”

The common theme among the newly-elected MEPs was just that: their party represented those outside of the political fringes. 

Doherty, who ended up surpassing Andrews to take the first seat in Dublin after transfers from eliminated Green Party candidate Ciarán Cuffe, said it was “absolutely wonderful” to have been elected.

“I wasn’t the person responsible for getting me elected, there were hundreds of people around to me to support me,” Doherty told reporters.

Asked if her popularity in the polls represented a “revival” of Fine Gael, the new MEP said: “Not looking at anybody in particular, but we’ve had a really renewed sense of energy in the last few months.

“It’s not just because the taoiseach has it, he has made us all believe in ourselves and give us new energy to go that extra mile,” she added.

Labour Party’s MEP-elect Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said: “For the Labour Party, it’s been a rough couple of years but Ivana [Bacik], with her by-election win, she changed the entire dynamic of this party.

“She showed that with a level of integrity and politics and unwavering in your belief for social justice, that we can win again and we won that by-election. When we started this campaign, I don’t think anybody gave us a chance, but we won.

image (7) © RollingNews.ie © RollingNews.ie

Ó Ríordáin said that the passing of his Father last year and the riots in Dublin in November is what motivated him to give Dublin a “better voice”.

He added that the win “means we’re back, and we’re going to be even more when the general election comes into focus”. While not mentioning candidates by name, he said that he believed it was important for election candidates to run on a “positive platform”.

Ó Ríordáin said the campaign’s goal was to not provide a “platform for division”. The Labour Party MEP-elect had been contesting the fourth seat from the very last count yesterday evening.

In the final count, transfers from Cuffe were enough for Ó Ríordáin to pass Independent Ireland’s candidate Niall Boylan, who was eliminated from the race. 

The newly elected Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan, speaking to RTÉ’s Prime Time moments after her election, backed Mary Lou McDonald to carry on as Sinn Féin leader despite the party’s poor performance in the local and European elections.

While the party has “lessons to learn from this campaign”, Lynn Boylan said leader McDonald was a “powerful force” who she would back totally support to lead the party into the general election.

Dublin is the first and only European constituency to have elected all of their candidates, so far. 

MIDLANDS-NORTHWEST COUNT 9

Our reporter on the ground in Castlebar Diarmuid Pepper has a rundown of the latest from the Midlands-Northwest count.

Independent Michelle Smith’s votes have been distributed, with little change, and so now we move onto figuring out Labour candidate Fergal Landy’s transfers.

There’s been some chatter today about the potential of forging a pact between the different parties on the left of Irish politics.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy was pushing it earlier, but it’s been met with a muted reaction by Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns.

One TD who has been welcoming the proposal is the Green Party’s Neasa Hourigan, who said on Virgin Media’s Tonight Show that the left needs to “start talking about coalescing” and ask whether it will be “taking leadership” in government.

The Dublin TD believes many people “want to see something from the left about being in power and not just purity Olympics”, adding when asked that she would be “hopeful” to receive cooperation from Sinn Féin, Social Democrats and Labour.

However, she clarified that Mary Lou McDonald’s party “hardening their language” over migration makes her “uncomfortable” and is a concern.

Hourigan added that the party was “borrowing the language of the far-right” in its talk about open borders during the election campaign, and that this was a “road to nowhere”.

IRELAND SOUTH COUNT NINE

Michael McNamara continues to soak up a large share of transfers from independents on the right of the spectrum in Ireland South.

The independent Clare TD received a boost to his chances of a European seat after getting 855 transfers from Mary Fitzgibbon.

According to Fitzgibbon, her priorities in this campaign were Ireland’s “sovereignty, immigration, neutrality, pro-family policies, agriculture and supports for small business”.

Other beneficiaries of her number 2s were Michael Leahy of the Irish Freedom Party, with 677 transfers, and Aontú’s Patrick Murphy with 630.

As our news correspondent Niall O’Connor reports from Nemo Rangers count centre, the latest to be eliminated in Ireland South is Lorna Bogue.

Her more than 10,000 votes will be distributed tomorrow.

You can track the vote here.

Diarmuid Pepper brings us the tenth count from Midlands-North West in Castlebar this evening:

- Niall Blaney (FF): 31,484 (+128)
- Nina Carberry (FG): 75,672 (+582)
- Peter Casey (Ind): 23,535 (+98)
- Lisa Chambers (FF): 45,212 (+312)
- Barry Cowen (FF): 74,830 (+227)
- Luke Ming Flanagan (Ind): 81,663 (+541)
- Michelle Gildernew (SF): 47,345 (+313)
- Rory Hearne (SD): 16,926 (+949)
- Hermann Kelly (IFP): 17,273 (+63)
- Chris MacManus (SF): 30,663 (+255)
- Saoirse McHugh (Ind): 21,547 (+498)
- Ciaran Mullooly (II): 59,931 (+325)
- Pauline O’Reilly (GP): 15,283 (+1,030)
- Peadar Tóibín (Aon): 43,046 (+207)
- Maria Walsh (FG): 73,096 (+681)
- John Waters (Ind): 17,088 (+69)

Nobody has been elected, so the Green Party’s Pauline O’Reilly will be eliminated for count 11.

Here’s how the top six now stand:

Screenshot 2024-06-12 002202

Incredibly, they’re going into another count in Castlebar. But that’s a wrap for us from this evening – check back tomorrow morning for the results of Count 11.

From all here at The Journal, goodnight!

It turns out the counting staff in Castlebar will be conserving their energy tonight and won’t be doing another count after all.

There’s a decent chance tomorrow is going to be a bumper day of drama so do check in with us then. And good night, properly, from all at The Journal this time.

This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.

 

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