The final estimated turnouts in the byelections in Galway West and Dublin Central were lower than the levels seen at the general election in 2024 as polls closed at 10 pm.
The final estimated turnout in Galway West when polls closed was approximately 44.28 per cent.
In Dublin Central half an hour before polls closed average turnout was at 39.48 per cent.
Turnout is usually lower in byelections than at general elections. Dublin Central, one of the most deprived constituencies in the State, is among those with traditionally low turnouts. In the general election, the turnout was 52.27 per cent, while in Galway West it was 58.48 per cent.
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An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the independent Electoral Commission, had appealed to voters not to leave it until the last minute to cast their vote in the two constituencies, where polls close at 10pm.
Spokesman Brian Dawson urged the electorate to “take time maybe either before or after dinner before you sit down in front of the TV for the evening to take a few minutes to go to your polling station and cast your vote in these important byelections”.
However, turnout now seems unlikely to hit 50 per cent in either constituency despite hope of a final surge before polls close.
In the capital, with 30 minutes to go returns for a sample five polling stations in Dublin Central showed an average turnout of 39.48 per cent.
The highest turnout, of 48.6 per cent, was at St Finbarr’s National School in Cabra West, which remained the highest throughout the day, followed by the 46 per cent seen at Glasnevin National School.
Some 37.5 per cent of voters had cast their ballot at Sean O’Casey Community Centre in East Wall by 8pm, with 25 per cent voting at St Paul’s CBS on North Brunswick Street.
In Galway West, voter turnout had risen to 59 per cent in Moycullen but was at its lowest ad 36 per cent in Renmore.
In Clifden 42 per cent of voters cast their ballot, with 50 per cent voting in Spiddal, 47 per cent in Oranmore, 46 per cent in Knocknacarra and 46 per cent in Carraroe.
Some 43 per cent of voters in Claregalway have cast their ballot and 39 per cent on the Aran Islands.
For the first time, voters on the islands get to cast their ballot on the same day as on the mainland. Previously, because of concerns about the weather, they voted two to three days earlier. Special voters, including those in nursing homes, continue to vote up to a week before the general public.
The electorate in Dublin Central stands at 57,619 while there are a total of 109,464 registered voters in Galway West.
A high first-preference vote in Dublin Central and Galway West will be crucial if candidates are to survive long enough to reach the later stages of the counts to benefit from the transfers they will need to win.
The vacancy in Dublin Central arose after Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe resigned as a TD to take a post at the World Bank in Washington. Fourteen candidates are vying to replace him in the Dáil.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald is under pressure to deliver a second Dáil seat in the constituency, where she is the sitting TD, and former party leader Gerry Adams joined her earlier this week to campaign for their candidate Cllr Janice Boylan.
While last week’s Irish Times/TG4 Ipsos B&A poll has Boylan leading the field in the left-leaning constituency, she was not far ahead of Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats.
A win for the Social Democrats in the Dublin Central byelection would have a significant impact on speaking rights for the party and for Labour in the Dáil.
Labour currently has better speaking rights and its TDs speak before Social Democrat TDs, with more speaking opportunities.
Both parties have 11 TDs. However Labour got precedence when the Dáil first sat because of controversy involving Dublin Bay South TD Eoin Hayes, who was suspended from the parliamentary party and deemed an Independent when the speaking order was determined. He was readmitted to the Social Democrats later in 2025.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Ray McAdam is hoping to retain the seat for Fine Gael. The three sitting TDs all represent Opposition parties.
The most high-profile Independent is veteran criminal Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, who narrowly missed out on a Dáil seat in the 2024 general election and was in third place in last week’s opinion poll. In court, gardaí have described Hutch as the figurehead of the Hutch crime gang involved in the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
There are 17 candidates in Galway West to succeed former Independent TD and now president Catherine Connolly.
The two perceived front-runners – Senator and former TD Seán Kyne of Fine Gael and Independent Ireland councillor Noel Thomas – campaigned on opposite ends of the constituency: the Wild Atlantic Way and Oranmore, respectively.
Fine Gael winning the seat would buck the trend of Government parties faring poorly in byelections.
It is more than two weeks since The Irish Times/TG4 Ipsos B&A poll that had Kyne in the lead, followed by Thomas, with Labour councillor Helen Ogbu leading the pack of left-wing candidates ahead of Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich of the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin’s Mark Lohan.
On the evidence of the recent opinion polls, Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Cillian Keane appears to be faring better than his party colleague Cllr John Stephens in Dublin Central, but both face an uphill battle. Independents in the race in Galway West include mayor of Galway Mike Cubbard.
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Art O’Leary, the chief executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, said the decline in electorate figures in both constituencies is related to the “really positive work” being done by local authorities “to clean up the register by removing duplicate entries, people who have moved away, or deceased”.
