Early tallies in the European Parliament elections show Fine Gael candidate, Ms Mairéad McGuinness topping the poll in the East constituency, trailed by Labour's Peter Cassells, Fianna Fáil's Mr Liam Aylward, and Fine Gael's second candidate in the East, sitting MEP, Ms Avril Doyle.
In Dublin, with half of the boxes open, tallies show Fine Gael's Mr Gay Mitchell with 22 per cent of first preferences, followed by Fianna Fáil's Mr Eoin Ryan at 16 per cent, Labour's Mr Prionsias de Rossa at 12.8 per cent; Ms Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin with 12.5 per cent.
Labour's second candidate in Dublin Ms Ivana Bacik has polled over ten per cent of first preferences. Sitting Green Party MEP Ms Patricia McKenna looks likely to lose her seat with only 9.9 per cent, while Mr Royston Brady's vote appears to have collapsed at just over eight per cent.
Fine Gael's Mr Simon Coveney and Fianna Fáil's Mr Brian Crowley are neck-and-neck to top the poll in the South with one-quarter of the vote apiece, while Independent candidate Ms Kathy Sinnott and Fianna Fáil's Mr Gerry Collins look set to fight it out for the third seat.
In the North West constistuency, Fianna Fáil's Mr Jim McDaid and Mr Sean O'Neachtain are leading with an even split of first preferences, while Sinn Fein's Mr Pearse Doherty is polling extremely well, closely followed by Independent Ms Marian Harkin and Fine Gael's Mr Jim Higgins. Based on early tallies, Dana, Ms Rosemary Scallon looks likely to lose her seat.
The number of seats available for Irish MEPs has been cut from 15 to 13 since the last European Parliament elections. The constituency boundaries have also been redrawn to take account of the loss of two seats.
Counting in the four constituencies for the European Parliament election starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow and results will not be declared until polls close in other EU states tomorrow evening.