Counting in the Dublin constituency was paused on Monday night without any candidates yet elected.
After a second long day at the RDS centre, where the process reached the 13th count, Fianna Fail’s Barry Andrews and Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty remained on course to secure two of the four seats in the constituency.
Neither reached the quota required to be deemed elected, so both will have to wait until at least Tuesday for confirmation of their successes.
Counting will resume at 10am on Tuesday.
In regard to the remaining two seats, Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan; Ciarán Cuffe from the Greens; Labour’s Aodhan O Riordain; Independent Ireland’s Niall Boylan; Clare Daly of Independents 4 Change; and Brid Smith of People Before Profit – Solidarity all remain in contention.
Progress was painstakingly slow at times during Monday, as candidates waited for the outcome of each round of counting.
The coffee shop that had provided sustenance throughout the first day of counting on Sunday was closed through Monday, adding to the somewhat subdued nature of proceedings.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who visited the RDS in the early evening, expressed confidence that former MEP Ms Boylan could be set for a return to Brussels.
“We’re looking good here in Dublin for Lynn Boylan to return to the parliament,” she told reporters.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the fight for the third and fourth seats was “impossible to call”, predicting the outcome would swing all over the place in the later rounds of vote transfers.
“We’ll see, but I’m very encouraged, Ciaran is in with a real chance and he has polled really well,” he told the PA news agency.
Earlier on Monday, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin toured the centre with Mr Andrews.
He hailed his party colleague’s “outstanding performance” in topping the poll.
Mr Martin said the feedback on the campaign trail made him confident that the outgoing MEP would retain his seat.
“It was evident to us that serious work he did in the European Parliament was recognised and understood and that he was a serious policy-focused European parliamentarian of substance,” he said.
