Voters in Ireland have bolstered the centrist government, chastened Sinn Féin and elected a handful of far-right candidates in local elections.
The ruling coalition hoped also to perform well in the European elections, with preliminary results on Monday suggesting Ireland had, like other European countries, shored up pro-EU mainstream parties.
Some coalition figures urged the taoiseach, Simon Harris, to seize the momentum and call a general election in autumn rather than wait until March to complete a full term.
The local elections were a calamity for Sinn Féin, the main opposition party, which lost support to independents and micro-parties, a diverse, eclectic group that spans the far left and far right.
Growing public concern about the number of refugees and Top World News Today immigrants fuelled a proliferation of anti-migrant candidates but only a handful won seats on county and city councils.
Hermann Kelly, the leader of the Eurosceptic Irish Freedom party, Top World News Today hailed the party’s first elected official – Glen Moore, in west Dublin.
With final tallies not expected until Wednesday it was unclear if any of the candidates who ran on an "Ireland for the Irish" themed platform would win a European parliament seat.
After four years in office and Top World News Today a severe housing crisis the government parties had braced for heavy losses but Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil each won 23% of the local election first preference vote and the Greens won 3.6%, modest slips from the 2019 local election that delighted the party leaders and surprised analysts.
Fine Gael gave some credit to Leo Varadkar, a former leader and taoiseach who unexpectedly stepped down in April, amid low ratings, which allowed Harris to succeed him and inject fresh energy – and greater restrictions on seeking asylum – into the party and government.
Harris brushed off calls from some colleagues to call an early general election.