In the end, geography sent two Lucan-based candidates – Shane Moynihan (Fianna Fáil) and Paul Gogarty (Independent) – to the Dáil on the last and 13th count in Dublin Mid-West, on Sunday evening.
They got over the line, achieving 7,231 and 7,106 votes respectively, following healthy transfers from a Lucan-based Vicki Casserly (Fine Gael). She had been eliminated on the 11th count, her transfers bringing home running mate Emer Higgins (8,580 votes) home on the 12th count.
The quota here was 7,913.
Clondalkin-based Eoin Ó Broin (Social Democrats) lost out in the end, achieving 6,215 votes, despite being in contention until the 12th count.
Sinn Fein took the first two seats, with Eoin Ó Broin topping the poll (9,892), elected on the first count on Saturday afternoon. Mark Ward was elected on the ninth count (7,923) on Sunday afternoon.
The major casualty of the contest here was People Before Profit’s sitting TD, Gino Kenny, from Neilstown. He was eliminated on the ninth count, having achieved 3,359 votes. He was squeezed by a crowded left – the Social Democrats did not run here in 2020 – and the emergence of anti-immigrant candidates – Glen Moore (Irish Freedom Party) and Linda de Courcy (Independent Ireland) who received 5,626 votes between them.