Sinn Fein on Monday demanded inclusion in Ireland's next government after a record
election showing, a move that would raise its central goal of reunification with Northern
Ireland toward the top of the agenda in
Dublin for the first time.
Sinn Fein's low number of candidates means, however, that it is likely to secure at best the second largest number of seats when two days of counting nears conclusion later on Monday - just behind the center-right Fianna Fail and around the same level as Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's Fine Gael.
Successive surveys suggested the Sinn Fein surge was based almost exclusively on the major campaign issues of healthcare and the high cost and low availability of housing, with the idea of
Irish unity barely registering with voters.