Late on Saturday night, a nationwide exit poll was released. It pointed towards a seismic realignment in Irish politics.
For the first time, the traditional hold of the two-party system had been significantly loosened and Sinn Féin had forced its way into the ‘big party’ group.
Across the country its candidates topped polls, hauling in astonishing first preference votes.
The constituency of Cork East did not buck that night’s trend, and Sinn Féin’s candidate Pat Buckley was elected on the first count, with 12,587 first preference votes.
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