Story of the count

Fine Gael gained a seat in Waterford, with John Deasy joined by outgoing Senator Paudie Coffey on the ninth count.

Fianna Fáil was left without a seat as Labour’s Ciara Conway and Independent councillor John Halligan, formerly of the Workers’ Party, took the other seats.

Labour’s Seamus Ryan, a Waterford City councillor, was always going to be the “kingmaker” in Waterford on Saturday when he was eliminated in the eighth count.

The surplus, coming from his 5,113 votes, enabled Coffey to pass the 10,745 quota with ease. Ryan’s transfer of 2,792 also brought his party colleague Conway, a first-time general election candidate and Dungarvan town councillor, to within 1,500 votes of the quota.

These same transfers gave Halligan an additional 925 votes, while outgoing Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Kenneally received 239.

After Waterford City councillor David Cullinane of Sinn Féin was eliminated, despite a strong performance, Conway was elected on the 10th count, followed by Halligan on the 11th.