Fianna Fáil take first seat

John Curran of Fianna Fáil became the first TD elected to the 30th Dáil this afternoon.

Mr Curran was deemed elected shortly after 2pm after exceeding the ballot in his Dublin Mid West constituency.

Fianna Fáil was continuing to poll well this afternoon and looked set to form the next Government.

Although initial tally results cannot predict all the transfers, it still appeared the Fianna Fáil performance was stronger than Fine Gael.

It appeared likely that Labour and the PD were set to lose seats.

Sinn Féin did not appear to be polling as well as it anticipated either.

Fianna Fáil ministers generally appeared to be topping the polls in their various constituencies, including Brian Cowen, Noel Dempsey, Martin Cullen, Micheal Martin and Dick Roche.

However, their coalition partners, the PD's didn't seem to be faring so well, with Michael McDowell, Liz O' Donnell and Tom Parlon in for a long day.

Enda Kenny received an estimated 21% of the vote in Mayo, according to tallies, which may be enough to bring in both his running mates.