Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has said the results of the Dublin Bay South by-election will outline that "it is now clear the Government is living on borrowed time".
Ms McDonald was speaking as she arrived at the RDS as tallies show Labour’s Ivana Bacik is likely to top the poll.
While the result of the first count has yet to be declared, Sinn Fein candidate Lynn Boylan has secured 16% of first preferences based on tallies.
She did exceptionally well in the inner-city working-class areas and held her own in more affluent areas as well.
Mary Lou McDonald said she is looking forward to a general election having received “solid and strong” support.
She said: "It is now clear that we have a Government living on borrowed time, it's very clear that the Government's support in the constituency has collapsed and they have been found out, and nowhere more so than in the whole area of housing policy.
“What’s happening, not just in Dublin Bay South and significant parts of that constituency, but right across our city and right across the State is an absolute scandal, people, families, communities being comprehensively failed.
“And I think the result today reflects the fact that people will no longer tolerate..what people want now is a general election, and they want change, and a change of government.
“We look forward to fighting a general election, the real deal.
“And the sooner the better.”
Ms McDonald said “voters took the decision that Ivana could stop the Fine Gael candidate” when asked why she believed Ms Bacik was likely to win and not Sinn Fein’s candidate Lynn Boylan.
