Galway East: Dolan to top the poll as Rabbitte faces a battle for her seat

With all 169 boxes tallied at Presentation College, Headford, Dolan - a Fianna Fáil county councillor from Monivea - appears to have knocked previous poll-topper Seán Canney off the top spot with a 19% share of first preferences.

But sitting TD Canney is not too far behind with an 18.4% share, and it will be between the two of them for the first and second seats in this four-seat constituency.

The real battle, though, will be for seats three and four. Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara looks likely to take a seat, placing third in the tallies on 13.7%, but that will depend on how transfer friendly he is as the counts get underway.

There are concerns among Fine Gael members that Pete Roche hasn’t performed as well as expected. He and Independent Ireland candidate Declan Geraghty are neck-and-neck on just under 10%.

Anne Rabbitte is on 7.5%, and while she is expected to benefit from Fine Gael candidate and fellow Portumna woman Niamh Madden’s (5%) transfers, party sources say she “faces the battle of her life” to hold the seat she has held since 2016.

The counting of votes will get underway shortly, with a first count result expected later this afternoon. It is not anticipated that any candidate will reach the estimated quota of 10,405 on the first count.

Keep up to date with the latest General Election count coverage at connachttribune.ie.

Caption: Cllr Shane Curley, Loughrea, Cllr Mary Hoade, Headford, her daughter Rachel Scully and election candidate, Cllr Declan Geraghty, Williamston at the Galway East count.