The first counts in the general election are coming in this afternoon.

As more declarations are made throughout the day, they will confirm voters have rejected the re-election of the coaliton.

There are major gains in the offing for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Independents after exit polls suggested less than a third of people had backed the Government parties.

Galway East became the first constituency in the country to declare a first count - but no-one has been elected.

Check out: GE16 live blog: The count

It does show that Fianna Fáil's Colm Keaveney who defected from Labour in the last Dáil is in trouble.

A number of other first counts are expected shortly.

But the tallies have told us some major named in Fine Gael and Labour are in trouble.

The Labour seats of Alex White in Dublin Rathdown, Joanna Tuffy in Dublin Mid West and Joe Costello in Dublin Central are gone, as is Willie Penrose's in longford Westmeath, but Tánaiste and leader Joan Burton looks safe in Dublin West.

Fine Gael will suffer too - Deputy leader James Reilly has a mountain to climb in Dublin Fingal in a fight for the final seat, Aine Collins looks set to lose her one in Cork North West, and it looks like Jimmy Deenihan could lose in Kerry.

It's Fianna Fáil's day - the party's making gains up and down the country - Micheál Martin and Michael McGrath storming ahead in Cork South Central, they could take three of the five seats in Carlow Kilkenny BUT Fine Gael looks set to prevent the return of former Minister Mary Hanafin in Dun Laoghaire.

Sinn Féin's making gains - Gerry Adams running mate Imelda Munster will take a seat in Louth, they could see the first TD for the party in over 90 years in Limerick City, but trouble's also brewing for Padraig McLochlainn in Donegal.

While Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams looks like topping the poll in Louth, Deputy leader MaryLou McDonald is also on course for an easy win in Dublin Central.

The final leaders' debate had put Mr Adams' political past in the spotlight leading to fears the party may not poll as well as predicted.

Dublin West Sinn Féin candidate Paul Donnelly denied the party would have done better without the leadership of Gerry Adams.

Arriving into the count centre in Phibblestown this afternoon he said: "At the end of the day Gerry Adams I think topped the poll, and Imelda Munster is going to come in very close behind him.

"If that's a disastrous leadership I don't know what is."

Mr Donnelly is likely to be battling for the final seat in the constituency along with Labour leader Joan Burton and AAA-PBP candidate Ruth Coppinger.

"We are definitely in the mix, we are still looking and we will be looking at David McGuinness' transfers, he is from the Mulhuddart area of the constituency which I think would favour Sinn Féin over Joan Burton, so it's all to play for, it's 1% it's a couple of hundred votes," he said.

Mr Donnelly said there is now a "50/50 chance" of another election within the next six months.

Sinn Féin Cork North Central candidate Jonathan O'Brien agreed Adams' leadership didn't put off voters:

“Those issues don’t come up on the doors. There is a media fixation in relation to Gerry’s leadership.

“The reality is in this constituency we have increased our vote by 6%. Nationally we have increased our vote by the same amount.

“So every election we stand we are going up. More and more people are coming to us so I don’t think Gerry is an issue for the party.”

It's also a big day for the Independents and smaller parties - with many making gains across the country - Roscommon Galway for example will see Denis Naughten and Michael Fitzmaurice elected, and the Healy Rae brothers look set to take two of the five seats in Kerry.

Michael is looking to return to his role as an Independent TD, while his councillor brother Danny also decided to run this time around.

The pair were among 16 candidates in the newly-formed constituency.

Danny's paid tribute to their supporters this afternoon: “The people of Kerry are a very intelligent people.

“And sometimes we have been criticised for kind of politics we do, but when you criticise the Healy Raes you criticise a lot of people in Kerry as well indeed all of them.”

Meanwhile Shane Ross missed out on the first count, but he will take a seat for the Independent Alliance in Dublin Rathdown.

He has currently got nearly a quarter of the vote in the new constituency.