Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews has topped the European election poll in Dublin but failed to reach the quota, with Regina Doherty of Fine Gael close behind him and both primed to take a seat.

The field behind this lead pair is extremely congested, with five candidates vying for the two remaining seats.

Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan is in third with 35,431 votes, or 9.41 per cent of the total first preference share. Ciaran Cuffe of the Green Party is on 32,204 and 8.55 per cent of the vote, followed by Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin on 30,733 votes, or 8.16 per cent of first preferences.

Niall Boylan, the Independent Ireland candidate, took 30,637 first preference votes for an 8.13 per cent share. The candidates placed third to sixth are separated by less than 5,000 votes.

[ European elections: Centre ‘holding’ in face of far-right parties, says von der Leyen ]

Beneath them, Clare Daly is still in touch on 26,855 votes for a 7.13 per cent share of first preferences, but her hard left competition Bríd Smith (PBP) is somewhat further back on 21,577, for 5.73 per cent.

Sinéad Gibney of the Social Democrats is some way back on 16,319 or 4.33 per cent of the vote. The second Sinn Féin candidate Daithí Doolan took 10,766 for 2.86 per cent of the vote.

Independent candidate Conor Murphy was eliminated and the second count will consist of the distribution of his second preferences. It will resume at 10am on Monday.

Efforts to run a combined tally on the European elections fell apart early on Saturday, meaning there was a dearth of reliable data to inform projections as the announcement of the first count approached.

Transfer patterns observed on ballot papers being counted in the RDS indicated the Coalition parties appeared to be transferring to each other, while candidates on the right also appeared to be transferring to one another.

But some ballot papers also showed a noticeable volatility, with some votes transferring across the political spectrum, going from fringe candidates or those firmly critical of immigration policy to Government or centre-left hopefuls.

Niall Boylan of Independent Ireland said he was confident of being in the mix for a seat as the count progressed, as did Labour Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. Green Party sources said they were not optimistic about retaining Ciarán Cuffe’s seat despite managing decent results in the local elections in the capital. On Sunday, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the party had endured a “mixed” day in the elections.

A range of candidates critical of immigration were also on the ballot paper in Dublin but were not expected to poll well, raising the prospect of their rapid elimination and the distribution of their second preferences overnight into Monday.

• Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
• Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
• Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis