Final party totals from election decided as coalition talks continue

The final totals for all the parties in the Irish election 2011 are now complete bar a recount in Galway West where a defeated candidate has requested a full recount.

If the result there stands, as is generally expected, the new Irish parliament will have 76 Fine Gael members, 37 Labor Party members, 20 Fianna Fail seats, 15 Independents, 14 Sinn Fein and 4 from the People before Profits party.

Fianna Fail have thus gone from 77 seats after the 2007 election to just 20 now. Fine Gael have upped their seats to a record total from 52 while the Labor Party and Sinn Fein are also at record levels. The Green Party has been completely wiped out.

Meanwhile, coalition talks between Fine Gael and Labor have continued for a second day with indications that the parties do not face any overwhelming obstacles.

Some union leaders have warned Labor against going into coalition as have some of their recently elected members.

Fine Gael are still holding out the option of reaching the magic 84 number by sitting down with independents if the Labor deal falls through.

Both major parties will have been cheered by indications from Europe that the interest rate on the Irish loan of $100 billion may be lowered by European Union leaders after realizing what a hot button issue it was in the recent election.