Counting resumes nationwide, with Gerard Hutch looking likely to get a seat

Summary

• Counting has resumed in the general election as the options for the next government become clearer.
• Early indications from count centres across the country suggest the return of an administration involving Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael currently looks more likely than a government including Sinn Féin.
• Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party’s performance in the election had broken the State’s political mould.
• Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris dismissed talk of a Sinn Féin surge and said he was “cautiously optimistic” about where his party will stand after all the votes are counted.
• Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin insisted his party has a “very clear route back to government” as he predicted seat gains.
• If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael do return to power, they will undoubtedly need one, if not two, of the Dáil’s smaller parties to reach the required 88 seats to form a majority.

12.10pm

Social Democrat’s Gary Gannon has…

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