The Battle for Labour’s top two posts was becoming bitter last night as Joan Burton faced a challenger in the tussle for the party crown.

A close look at Sean Sherlock, Alan Kelly and Michael McCarthy

Fianna Fáil, the biggest group on the new 40 member Limerick City and County Council may do a deal with Sinn Féin to take control of the new authority, it has emerged.

Joan Burton’s bid for the Labour Party leadership is expected to be challenged by Junior Health Minister Alex White, in a move which will divide party members following a bruising set of elections last week.

It looks as if Civil War politics in Kerry — where the conflict was at its most bitter — could soon be over, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael forming an alliance on the county council.

Joan Burton’s bid for the Labour leadership edged closer last night after her party colleague Brendan Howlin ruled himself out of running for the position.

In the 1980s when Labour was having another of its bruising internal upheavals, then leader Frank Cluskey noticed Michael D Higgins was absent. On hearing the TD had gone on an emergency mission to Nicaragua, Cluskey is reported to have said Higgins was taking the easy option of "saving the world over saving the Labour party".

Outgoing Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has insisted the Coalition will not be plunged into instability as a result of his resignation as Labour leader. He urged his successor to keep the party in Government until the end of its mandate in 2016.

Deirdre Clune of Cork’s Barry political dynasty fought off party young gun Simon Harris to clinch a second seat for Fine Gael in a marathon Ireland South election count.

Fianna Fáil have made approaches to senior Sinn Féin figures in the hope the two parties can form a coalition on Cork County Council.

Despite the bitter rivalry between the Kelly, Clune, and Harris teams during the campaign, the battle plan succeeded in the end and the party nailed two seats in the South.

After a juggernaut of a count that lasted three days, Fine Gael’s Seán Kelly and Deirdre Clune joined Brian Crowley and Sinn Féin’s Liadh Ní Riada as Ireland South MEPs.

It was the only time he took it lying down — beaten but far from broken.

By-election victor Ruth Coppinger took her seat in the Dáil for the Socialists yesterday.

Despite being the highest vote-getter in the local elections, Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath says he has no ambition to seek a seat in the Dáil.

"The senior people get the senior positions. It’s the nature of politics," Labour’s chief whip, Emmet Stagg, mused on RTÉ radio the night of his party leader’s resignation. "The younger generation have to serve their time."

Labour senator and European parliament candidate Lorraine Higgins has said she received death threats in the election campaign.

Joan Burton is expected to declare her bid for the Labour leadership today as parliamentary party members meet and discuss the party’s dismal election results and the shock resignation of Eamon Gilmore.

Whoever it is, Labour’s 11th leader must unite and rejuvenate the party for the next general election, writes Juno McEnroe.

Former accountant Joan Burton wants to make Labour the voice of Ireland, but has no room to manoeuvre, says Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly.

As the count draws to a conclusion for the remaining European parliament seats this blog will keep you informed of the latest developments as and when they happen in Ireland South and Midlands, North-West.

Newly elected MEP Liadh Ní Riada said her priority is to triple the amount of EU funding Ireland is accessing and to use it to develop jobs in rural Ireland.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has vowed that the party’s MEPs will "stand up for the people of Ireland in Europe" and that he will lead the party into the general election.

Defeated Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins predicted yesterday there would be a Cabinet reshuffle "sooner rather than later".

It was all about the ballots early in the morning as weary count staff wrestled their way through just over 657,000, 16.5in ballot papers in the Ireland South count centre yesterday.

The rise and rise of Sinn Féin — due in no small part to girl power — continued last night with the election in the South constituency of Liadh Ní Riada.

As fledgling candidate Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan took wing for Europe, veteran MEP Jim Higgins acknowledged he was poised to make his Euro exit.

The sheer scale of Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley’s own personal vote emerged yesterday afternoon.

Ireland South voting sensation Brian Crowley all but made a bid for the presidency as he recorded a fifth poll-topping European election, with his team likening him to the much- loved US president, Franklin Roosevelt.

The battle in Blackrock is over, but the war within Fianna Fáil over ex-minister Mary Hanafin’s decision to run in the area may be only just beginning.

As heads rolled over the European Parliament election results in several countries, French president François Hollande went on TV to respond to the shock victory of far-right Front National.

A senior Fianna Fáil TD has said "there is no impediment" to going into government with Sinn Féin after the next general election.

Beaten European parliament candidate Eamon Ryan has said that he and other party candidates will consider running in upcoming by- elections after the Green Party leader failed to win a seat in Dublin.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan’s bid for a Dublin European seat failed after Independent MEP Nessa Childers made a surprise comeback and relieved Fine Gael minister Brian Hayes managed to cling onto the third and final seat.

Ironically, a man called Michael Collins was one of the reasons Fine Gael got hammered in West Cork.

It’s being joked that Labour councillors are such an endangered species in Cork that the two remaining should be given sanctuary at Fota Wildlife Park.

Labour TDs and senators have begun taking sides in the leadership contest after the shock resignation of Eamon Gilmore.

As senior Labour ministers took to the airwaves on Saturday to defend their party’s record and leader, conversations started taking place between its young turks on what to do about Eamon Gilmore.

Ultimately, the reason Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore gave for his resignation as Labour leader after three years in Government was simple: "The party has to renew itself," he said, "and it has a better chance to do that with a new leader."

The promised wind of change was never delivered, writes Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly.

The battle for the job of pulling the Labour Party back from the brink will begin today when nominations open for a leader to replace Eamon Gilmore who conceded his party needs "a new voice".

The returning officer had barely announced the election of Ireland South’s Liadh Ní Riada when Sinn Féin and the Ó Riada clan, one of the most acclaimed traditional music families in the country, burst into song.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance Cork City councillor and grandmother Lil O’Donnell said a combination of anger at the shocking revelations in the Anglo tapes and the introduction of the water tax, compelled her to run for election.

Sinn Féin has emphatically ruled out a mayoral pact in Cork City unless there are sweeping changes to how the chain of office is allocated.