Lorraine Clifford-Lee and Hazel Chu lose Seanad seats after recounts

A recount was carried out this morning but Ms Clifford-Lee failed to hold on to the seat she has held since 2016. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Counting continues on Friday as hopeful candidates wait to find out if they have a seat in the Seanad.

5.35pm 

Cork senator Tim Lombard is set to lose his seat in the Seanad as votes continue to be counted for the vocational panels.

Fine Gael's Mr Lombard had served on the Agricultural panel where the Green Party's Malcolm Noonan topped the poll on Friday.

With Mr Noonan joining party leader and TD Roderic O'Gorman in Leinster House, it brings to two the number of Green Party representatives in the Oireachtas.

Also elected to the eleven-seat Agricultural panel on the first count were Sinn Féin's Joanne Collins and Independent Victor Boyhan.

4.30pm 

The six seats from the university constituencies are now filled following the election of Independent Aubrey McCarthy to Dublin University/Trinity College on Friday.

Counting in the Trinity College exam hall extended into a third day when the final count saw Green Party candidate Hazel Chu trailing Mr McCarthy by 31 votes.

Following the request from Ms Chu, a "simple" recount took place on Friday morning. However, the recount saw the gap between the two widen to 64 votes as Mr McCarthy's votes increased by 49 to 3,770 while Ms Chu's lost four votes bringing her to 3,706.

Mr McCarthy joins senators Tom Clonan and Lynn Ruane in that constituency while Michael McDowell, Rónán Mullen and Alice-Mary Higgins were re-elected in the National University of Ireland constituency.

12.55pm 

All five seats on the Cultural and Educational panel have been filled with outgoing Fianna Fáil senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee losing out.

Ms Clifford-Lee was excluded following a recount at her request on Friday morning.

Shortly after, the final three seats were filled with Pauline Tully and Cathal Byrne having claimed their seats on Thursday night.

On the 19th count, Independent Joe Conway from Waterford, Fianna Fáil's Shane Curley and Fine Gael's Seán Kyne — both from Galway — were elected.

As all seats on this panel have been filled, counting will soon begin for the Agricultural panel. Each panel is completed before moving on to the next. After the Agricultural panel will be the Labour panel followed by the Industrial and Commercial panel and finally the Administrative panel.

Meanwhile, a recount is ongoing in the Dublin University/Trinity College constituency as Independent Aubrey McCarthy and Hazel Chu battle to claim the third and final seat.

Incumbents Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan were elected on Thursday.

10.50am

Fianna Fáil senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee has lost her seat in the Seanad as counting resumes on Friday.

She had requested a recount late last night after the 18th count saw her lose out to Independent Joe Conway by two-thirds of a vote.

The recount was carried out this morning but Ms Clifford-Lee failed to hold on to the seat she has held since 2016.

The five-seat Cultural and Educational panel elected Sinn Féin's Pauline Tully and Fine Gael's Cathal Byrne on Thursday night.

With Ms Clifford-Lee excluded on the 18th count, the remaining three seats go to Mr Conway, Fine Gael's Seán Kyne and Fianna Fáil's Shane Curley.

Meanwhile, in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel, the final count saw just 31 votes separating Independent Aubrey McCarthy and the Green Party's Hazel Chu.

Mr McCarthy finished with 3,741 votes while Ms Chu had 3,710 - both were short of the quota of 4,450.

With a small margin separating the two, Ms Chu called for a full recount, a request which the returning officer said would be considered when they return to the Trinity exam hall this morning.

The two candidates are currently being briefed with a recount looking likely to take place this afternoon but whether it will be a partial or full recount has yet to be confirmed.