Counting gets under way for Dublin Bay South by-election as high voter turnout reported

Counting is currently under way for the Dublin Bay South by-election.

There was high voter turnout reported on Thursday night after a slow start to the day.

A total of 15 candidates have thrown their hats in the ring but it's expected to be a close contest between Fine Gael's James Geoghegan and Labour's Ivana Bacik.

But Sinn Fein's Lynn Boylan is expected to take in a big share of first preference votes.

The by-election was called after former Fine Gael Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy announced that he would be resigning from his seat in the Dail.

While Ms Bacik and Mr Geoghegan are currently the front runners, bookies have slashed Ms Boylan's odds into 6/1 from 10/1 to take the seat.

Mr Geoghegan had been a clear frontrunner at one stage at a red-hot 1/4, but went into polling day the second favourite at 9/4.

Ballot boxes opened at 9am at the RDS on Friday with a result expected later in the day.

Labour candidate for Dublin Bay south Ivana Bacik and Ginny a yorkie a rescue dog from the DSPCA during voting at her local polling station at the Youth Reach Training Centre, Portobello, Dublin (Gareth Chaney/Collins)

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