Smaller parties are all mostly expected to retain their seats across county and city councils, with some gains for the Social Democrats and Aontú in particular.
The Social Democrats picked up 19 seats at the last local elections, and look set to add at least another five or six seats, with notable gains in parts of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare.
In the capital, Cian Farrell (South East Inner City), Eoin Hayes (Kimmage-Rathmines) and Daniel Ennis (North Inner City) were elected on Sunday.
“This time, 25 to 26 seats look definite and we’re in the hunt in five other places,” said the party’s housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan.
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“There’s a good chance we’ll increase from 19 to 30 [seats], which we would be very happy with.”
Sinead Gibney, the party’s MEP candidate for Dublin, seems unlikely to claim a seat but has said she would like to run for the party at national level, indicating her preference for Dún Laoghaire or Rathdown.
“More than anything it [the campaign] confirmed for me, this is what I want to do and I’m going to be good at it, whether it’s this election or the next one,” the former chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission said.
The Labour Party’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin appears to be the strongest candidate among the smaller parties, alongside People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith, for Europe.
At local level, the Labour Party said it expects to have between 55 and 60 seats across the local authorities when counting finishes, around the same as 2019 when it won 57. Louth TD Ged Nash said the party was particularly pleased with the geographical spread of its successful candidates to date.
“It was strategically important for us to win back seats in Galway, Cork, Kilkenny and Sligo and we’ve managed to do that,” he said.
“We’ve high hopes for Aodhán; winning that seat could be transformational for us. We’re optimistic.”
Helen Ogbu was elected to Galway City Council for the party, becoming the first black woman to win a seat there.
Mr Nash added: “Across the country the party will come out with about the same, if not more councillors elected, significantly ahead of the Social Democrats and the Green Party.”
The People Before Profit-Solidarity Coalition claimed 11 seats five years ago and say they are “holding” in most areas. They look set to take two seats in Tallaght, one in Clondalkin and another in Ballymun-Finglas, while former TD Ruth Coppinger was elected to Fingal County Council.
“It could have been a bad day given the strong stance we’ve taken on antiracism and immigration,” said Ms Smith.
“During the local election campaign, a lot of Saturdays were taken up with protests for Palestine and those are usually days of intense campaigning. However, we felt it was more important to make our voices heard and pressure the Government, and we did so, we also know our members are committed to the end of [Israeli] occupation.”
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said his party expects to secure around 10 local seats, which they would be “very happy with”, increasing from three in 2019.
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