Sinn Fein leader is working energetically to build a new government and potentially bring down Ireland’s current ruling coalition following their strong showing in the Irish election, while the vote counting is still ongoing

The leader of Sinn Fein has said she is ‘very actively pursuing’ trying to form a government in a bid to topple Ireland’s ruling coalition following an ‘incredible performance’ in today’s election.

Mary Lou McDonald made it clear she wanted to engage with other parties about the ‘possibilities of government’.

Ireland’s ruling coalition of centre-right parties is closing in on victory – but might need extra help to get back into power, new exit polls have shown.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, which were in office prior to the elections, have ruled out a deal with Sinn Fein despite sitting on only a combined 40.5 per cent of the vote, short of an overall majority.

Republican party Sinn Fein is on 21.1 per cent of the total vote – but remains a political outlier. Experts say Fine Gael – led by Taoiseach Simon Harris – and Fianna Fail will likely have to create a further extended coalition in order to return to power.

Ms McDonald said: ‘Let’s wait and see where the numbers land and then I am going to very, very actively pursue with others, other formulations, other configurations that will result in a changed government.

‘And I don’t want to be overly ahead of myself, if you don’t mind here, or presumptuous in any way, because obviously I need to go and talk to the leaders of the other parties, one of whom has just had a baby girl (Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns), so is extremely busy, I’m sure, with all of that, too.’

She added: ‘I am looking to bring about a government of change, and I’m going to go and look at all formulations.’

Leaders of the major political parties have cast their votes in what could be an extraordinary election – and the biggest in Irish history – that includes Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, leader of the infamous Hutch crime gang, among its election candidates.

Career criminal Hutch was released on a €100,000 bail earlier this month by a Spanish judge while facing money laundering allegations – and early polls suggest he may claim the final seat in the constituency behind other more established candidates.

His gang has been linked to some of the biggest heists in Irish history – but Hutch himself has never been convicted of involvement due to a lack of evidence. He was cleared of murdering David Byrne, a member of the rival Kinahan clan, last year.

Byrne had been shot six times at a boxing weigh-in event at the Regency Hotel in Dublin in February 2016.

A Special Criminal Court judge described Hutch, 61, as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and said he had engaged in ‘serious criminal conduct’. 

There are four seats up for grabs in the Dublin Central area where Hutch is campaigning – and his election could make him more difficult to prosecute, or even investigate.

Current Taoiseach Simon Harris said he expects a ‘fascinating couple of days’ after he submitted his ballot minutes after polling stations opened.

As Ireland uses a system of proportional representation where candidates are ranked numerically according to preference, voting slips need to be counted several times. This means some seats could take days to declare.

Political leaders stepped out in driving rain on Friday to vote, with the exception of Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns – who gave birth to a baby girl on polling day.

Speaking after voting on Friday, Mr Harris said that the make-up and stability of the next government could be decided by where transfer votes go.

The Fine Gael leader arrived at the polling station at Delgany National School in Co Wicklow just before 7.30am with his wife Caoimhe and their children, Saoirse, five, and Cillian, three.

‘I’m feeling really hopeful, hopeful in terms of the election, but hopeful for the future of our country,’ he said as he called on people to ‘use your voice, use your vote’.

In an election which has seen several opinion polls put the three main parties – Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and opposition party Sinn Fein – within touching distance of one another, turnout is expected to be another crucial factor.

The three largest parties were virtually neck-and-neck heading into polling day, with one party leader describing the race as ‘too close to call’.

The largest opposition party Sinn Fein held 21.1% of first-preference votes, narrowly ahead of current coalition partners Fine Gael and Fianna Fail at 21% and 19.5% respectively, according to the Ipsos B&A Exit Poll commissioned by RTE, The Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin. 

‘If they (Fine Gael and Fianna Fail) are both at 20%, that’ll get them close to 80 seats, I suspect, and then it’s a matter of who will go in with them,’ Dublin City University politics professor Gary Murphy told the Reuters news agency.

More than three million registered voters have their representatives across 43 constituencies, in a campaign that has focused on the country’s housing crisis, the response to a dramatic increase in immigration, and economic management for the cost of living as well as potential future trade shocks.

After the 2020 general election delivered an inconclusive result, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, two parties forged from opposing sides of Ireland’s Civil War of the 1920s, agreed to set aside almost a century of animosity and share power.

Sinn Fein won the popular vote in 2020 but a failure to run enough candidates meant it did not secure sufficient seats in the Dail to give it a realistic chance of forming a government.

The election, called on November 8, has been trailed by a lacklustre three-week campaign that seemed to fail to ignite a surge of enthusiasm among the public.

Fine Gael’s campaign has been plagued with several controversies which the Taoiseach has been unable to shake.

Mr Harris has repeatedly apologised for a much-criticised encounter in which he was accused of dismissing the concerns of a disability care worker at a supermarket, which had been filmed by RTE.

The Fine Gael campaign has also been dogged by footage entering the public domain which showed a candidate engaged in a fight outside a pub.

John McGahon had been found not guilty in a criminal case around the incident, but was ordered to pay damages in a civil case.

Former Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, who is retiring from front-line politics, said his party had not had a good day in the Irish General Election. 

Meanwhile, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said his party’s ‘red lines’ were not intended to rule them out of being in government with Fianna Fail or Fine Gael. 

The left-wing party may yet speak with other parties in its vein, including the Labour Party, about how they could leverage themselves against the centre-right during potential coalition discussions.