Sinn Féin’s Pat Buckley has retained his seat in Cork East on 9,194 votes, taking the third seat in the 12th count.

Mr Buckley (55) topped the poll there in 2020 with 23.1 per cent of first preference votes (12,587 – well above the 10,909 quota).

He has served as Sinn Féin’s spokesman on mental health and suicide prevention. He was also a member of Cork County Council from 2014 to 2016.

Mr Buckley began campaigning as a mental health rights activist following a family tragedy through suicide.

He has been a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions and has sat on Oireachtas Committees on health and mental health.

He is married with two children and was born and raised in east Cork.