Main PointsThe Galway West byelection count has moved into a second day, with a tight contest emerging between the top two candidatesCounting resumes at 9am Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas topped the poll in the first count with 10,007 votesFine Gael’s Seán Kyne was in second with 9,647 votes, a gap of 360Labour’s Helen Ogbu was the leading left-wing candidate, taking third place with 5,462 votesFine Gael believes its candidate will take the seat, but Independent Ireland remains ahead after the fourth countKey PiecesGalway West byelection results in fullAs it happened: The first day of Galway West count Analysis: Helen Ogbu’s transfers may end up being decisiveInside Politics podcast: A bad day for the big partiesSarah Burns - 10 minutes agoAfter almost 16 hours of counting in the RDS, Daniel Ennis was elected without reaching the quota on the ninth count with a final vote of 12,050.Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan came second in party leader Mary Lou McDonald’s home constituency, with a final vote of 7,787.The Green Party’s Janet Horner was the third placed candidate with 5,452, having been eliminated after eight counts, while veteran criminal Gerard Hutch came in fourth position, eliminated after the seventh count with a final vote of 4,466.Ennis was first elected for North East Inner City in the local elections of 2024.Enda O’Dowd captured the moment he was officially elected at the RDS in the early hours of Sunday morning. Social Democrats candidate, Daniel Ennis, wins the Dublin Central by-election. Video: Enda O'Dowd Sarah Burns - 12 minutes agoWho is Daniel Ennis, the newly elected TD for Dublin Central? Marie O’Halloran has a profile here about the former League of Ireland footballer. Social Democrats candidate, Daniel Ennis, wins the Dublin Central by-election. Photograph: Enda O'Dowd/The Irish Times Social Democrats candidate, Daniel Ennis, wins the Dublin Central by-election. Photograph: Enda O'Dowd/The Irish Times Sarah Burns - 14 minutes agoGood morning. While Social Democrat Daniel Ennis was elected as Dublin Central’s newest TD in the early hours of Sunday morning, the battle for Galway West continues. Counting at the Galway Lawn Tennis Club in Salthill is due to resume at around 9am.Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas had a 784 vote advantage over his nearest challenger Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne on Saturday evening, but both men are well short of the quota.The fourth count involved the elimination of the Green Party’s Niall Murphy and Kyne closed the gap to 590. Kyne received 214 transfers from Murphy.Labour’s Helen Ogbu received almost 400 votes to bring her total to almost 6,000.It will be an interesting day; there are three left wing candidates - Sheila Garrity (Ind), Sinn Féin’s Mark Lohan and the Social Democrats Míde Nic Fionnlaoich - to be eliminated which should boost Ogbu though unlikely to be enough to get her elected.The popular Independent Mike Cubbard’s transfers may also favour his fellow city councillor Ogbu.The critical transfers are likely to be those of Fianna Fáil’s Cillian Keane.If his votes go, as expected, heavily to Seán Kyne, Fine Gael will win the seat, but Thomas is ex-Fianna Fáil so it mightn’t be that straightforward. Independent Ireland candidate Noel Thomas (left) with Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins, at the count centre in Galway Lawn Tennis Club, Salthill. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire