Dublin Central by-election LIVE updates as Social Democrats candidate Daniel Ennis emerges as early leader
The sorting and counting in the closely-watched Dublin Central by-election has begun.Two new members of the Dail are set to be elected after voters in the centre of the capital and Galway West went to the polls on Friday. They chose from a range of candidates to fill the seats vacated by Catherine Connolly when she became President, and former minister Paschal Donohoe, who left political life to become the World Bank’s chief knowledge officer.The first boxes holding ballots were opened at 9am, as counts got under way at the RDS. Early tallies with around 34% of the boxes in Dublin Central open showed Daniel Ennis, the Social Democrats candidate, on 19.9% of the first preferences – followed by Sinn Fein’s Janice Boyland on 17.2% and Gerard “The Monk” Hutch on 13.6%.Fianna Fail’s candidate John Stephens was on 1.6% of the vote. The other candidates in Dublin Central include Green Party’s Janet Horner; Dublin Lord Mayor and Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam; People Before Profit’s Eoghan O Ceannabhain; Aontu’s Ian Noel Smyth and Labour’s Ruth O’Dea.The campaign of Hutch, who has been described in court by a judge as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation, has been closely watched in the constituency. Independents Tony Corrigan, Colm Joseph Flood, Mannix Flynn, Malachy Steenson, and John O’Leary are also running.The other TDs in the four-seater constituency are Labour’s Marie Sherlock and Social Democrat Garry Gannon.
