Fine Gael presidential hopeful, Ms Avril Doyle, was early today struggling to get a Seanad seat. She received 43 votes (43,000 for count purposes), well behind Labour's Ms Kathleen O'Meara, who polled 87,000, enabling her to exceed the quota of 81,167 on the agricultural panel.
While Ms O'Meara's vote saw her elected on the first count, her tally of votes was short of the 102,000 which her party members could have cast. Ms Doyle polled disappointingly among the Fine Gael electorate of 320,000.
Mr Tom Berkery got 23,000 votes. Mr Paddy McGowan and Mr Tom Fitzgerald, both of Fianna Fail, were said to be in trouble.