Socialist Daly eliminated after controversial recount

Socialist candidate Clare Daly has been eliminated from the Dublin North constituency by just two votes following a nine-hour recount.

This reverses a count last night which eliminated Labour's Brendan Ryan by eleven votes.

A request this evening by Daly's election team for a further recount has been refused on the ground that she was not present for the first recount and so could not challenge its validity.

Her 5887 votes will now be distributed between the remaining five candidates who are chasing three remaining seats.

Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent, Fine Gael's Dr James Reilly, and Darragh O'Brien are well ahead at this stage with Ryan and FF's John O'Leary lagging behind but the Labour candidate could benefit strongly from Socialist Daly's transfers.