And the winner is . . . Sinn Féin

ALMOST a quarter of a million (220,685) people voted for 41 Sinn Féin candidates in 38 constituencies in the 2011 Leinster House election, electing 14 TDs, a record performance for the party who won 9.9% of first preferences.

• Carlow/Kilkenny

Vote % of poll
2002 2,078 3.42%
2007 2,568 3.8%
2011 7,033 9.5%
Kathleen Funchion and John Cassin more than doubled the vote here with Kathleen hanging on until the 11th count.

• Cavan/Monaghan

Vote % of poll
1997 11,531 19.37%
2002 10,832 17.51%
2007 13,162 20.01%
2011 18,452 25.9%
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin’s fourth win here, and Kathryn Reilly won 6,539 first-preferences.

• Cork East

Vote % of poll
1997 1,534 3.56%
2002 2,624 5.73%
2007 3,672 6.82%
2011 6,292 11.1%
Sandra McLellan, third on the first count, took a seat on the seventh.

• Cork North-Central

Vote % of poll
1997 1,654 3.76%
2002 2,860 6.34%
2007 3,456 8.16%
2011 7,923 15.2%
Jonathan O’Brien topped the poll and was elected on the eighth count.

• Cork North-West

Vote % of poll
2011 3,405 7.4%
Des O’Grady took 7.4% of the first-preferences.

• Cork South-Central

Vote % of poll
2002 2,063 3.73%
2007 3,020 5.11%
2011 5,250 8.2%
Chris O’Leary took 8.2% of the poll and hung onto until the 12th and last count.

• Cork South-West

Vote % of poll
2002 2,207 5.85%
2007 2,150 5.06%
2010 3,346 7.3%
Paul Hayes increased the Sinn Féin vote and was eliminated on the fourth count.

• Donegal North-East

Vote % of poll
1997 2,881 8.11%
2002 3,611 9.93%
2007 6,733 17.47%
2010 9,278 24.5%
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn topped the poll and was elected on the third count.

• Donegal South-West

Vote % of poll
2002 3,829 10.75%
2007 8,462 21.23%
2010 13,719 39.85%
2011 14,262 33%
Pearse Doherty topped the poll, holding the seat won in the November by-election.

• Dublin Central

Vote % of poll
1997 2,377 6.65%
2002 4,972 14.61%
2007 3,182 9.19%
2011 4,526 13.1%
Third after the first count, Mary Lou McDonald was elected on the eighth count.

• Dublin Mid-West

Vote % of poll
2002 1,855 6.52%
2007 3,462 9.27%
2011 5,060 11.85%
Eoin Ó Broin was in the running for the last seat, losing out by just 552 votes to a Fine Gaeler.

• Dublin North-Central

Vote % of poll
2002 2,299 5.74%
2007 1,375 3.78%
2011 2,140 5.6%
Helen McCormack went out after the third count.

• Dublin North-East

Vote % of poll
1997 2,212 5.93%
2002 3,003 10.24%
2007 4,661 13.36%
2011 5,032 12%
Larry O’Toole, third on the first count, held on until the very last when Labour’s second candidate narrowly took the final seat.

• Dublin North-West

Vote % of poll
2002 4,781 18.28%
2007 4,873 15.74%
2011 7,115 21.7%
A stunning performance by Dessie Ellis won this seat and he was elected on the seventh count.

• Dublin South

Vote % of poll
2002 2,172 3.93%
2007 1,843 3.01%
2011 1,915 2.6%
Sorcha Nic Cormaic was eliminated after the fourth count.

• Dublin South-Central

Vote % of poll
1997 1,937 4.77%
2002 5,591 12.70%
2007 4,825 10.15%
2011 6,804 13.4%
Aengus Ó Snodaigh, second on the first count, was elected for the third time on the final count.

• Dublin South-East

Vote % of poll
2002 2,398 7.39%
2007 1,599 4.72%
2011 1,272 3.6%
Ruadhán Mac Aodháin was eliminated after the third count.

• Dublin South-West

Vote % of poll
1997 3,725 8.9%
2002 7,466 20.29%
2007 5,066 12.16%
2011 8,064 17.2%
Seán Crowe, third on the first count, was elected to the third seat on the sixth.

• Dublin West

Vote % of poll
1997 2,004 5.0%
2002 2,404 8.02%
2007 1,624 4.78%
2011 2,597 6.1%
Paul Donnelly built substantially on his 2009 local election result when he won 1,517 votes.

• Galway East

Vote % of poll
2002 1,828 3.7%
2007 1,789 3.21%
2011 3,635 6.1%
Dermot Connelly nearly doubled the Sinn Féin vote.

• Galway West

Vote % of poll
1997 1,209 2.51%
2002 2,779 5.62%
2007 1,629 2.96%
2011 3,807 6.3%
Trevor Ó Clochartaigh again doubled the Sinn Féin vote share

• Kerry North/Limerick West

Vote % of poll
1997 5,691 15.91%
2002 9,496 24.24%
2007 8,030 20.43%
2011 9,282 20.3%
Martin Ferris made it a hat- trick of wins here.

• Kildare North

Vote % of poll
2007 1,103 2.44%
2011 2,896 5.7%
Martin Kelly continued the Sinn Féin growth with a doubling of first-preferences.

• Kildare South

Vote % of poll
2011 2,308 6%
An impressive performance for first time candidate Jason Turner.

• Laois/Offaly

Vote % of poll
2002 2,779 4.11%
2007 3,656 5.11%
2011 8,039 10.8%
Brian Stanley’s years of activism paid off and he took this seat after a marathon count in the outgoing Taoiseach’s constituency.

• Limerick (City)

Vote % of poll
2007 (East) 2,081 4.21%
2011 3,711 8.6%
Maurice Quinlivan, elected a councillor in 2009, continued the Sinn Féin growth in this area.

• Longford/Westmeath

Vote % of poll
2002 1,673 3.37%
2007 2,136 3.89%
2011 4,339 7.5%
Paul Hogan, fourth after the first count, held on till the seventh count.

• Louth

Vote % of poll
1997 3,651 8.11%
2002 7,121 14.95%
2007 8,274 15.04%
2011 15,072 21.7%
Gerry Adams topped the poll and was elected on the first count.

• Mayo

Vote % of poll
2002 2,085 3.28%
2007 3,608 5.05%
2011 4,802 6.5%
Thérèse Ruane and Rose Conway-Walsh increased Sinn Féin’s vote share.

• Meath East

Vote % of poll
2007 1,695 3.94%
2011 3,795 8.9%
Michael Gallagher doubled the party vote share.

• Meath West

Vote % of poll
2007 4,567 11.29%
2011 6,989 17.4%
Peadar Tóibín’s surge for Sinn Féin left him taking the second seat here.

• Roscommon/South Leitrim

Vote % of poll
2007 3,876 3.41%
2011 4,637 9.8%
Martin Kenny hung on until the fifth count, his transfers electing the last two TDs.

• Sligo/North Leitrim

Vote % of poll
2007 4,684 11.73%
2011 5,911 13.3%
Another stunning Sinn Féin performance and Michael Colreavy was elected on the ninth count.

• Tipperary North

Vote % of poll
2007 1,672 3.76%
2011 3,034 6.3%
Seamus Morris continued the solid Sinn Féin growth here.

• Tipperary South

Vote % of poll
2002 1,210 3.3%
2007 1,198 3.09%
2011 1,860 4.5%
Michael Brown grew the Sinn Féin vote significantly.

• Waterford

Vote % of poll
2002 2,955 6.35%
2007 3,327 6.72%
2011 5,342 9.9%
David Cullinane battled on until the ninth count.

• Wexford

Vote % of poll
2002 4,964 8.22%
2007 5,068 7.39%
2011 4,353 5.8%
Anthony Kelly was eliminated on the fourth count.

• Wicklow/East Carlow

Vote % of poll
2002 1,527 2.80%
2007 3,234 4.98%
2011 7,107 10.1%
John Brady doubled the Sinn Féin vote and narrowly missed out on the last seat here at the very end in a heads up with an Independent candidate.