Voting to get under way in General Election

Voting in the General Election will get under way this morning with the polls open from 7am until 10pm tonight.

More than 3.6 million people are eligible to vote across the 43 Dáil constituencies.

Voters will today decide who will fill 173 of the 174 seats in the next Dáil with the Ceann Comhairle returned automatically.

There are more than 680 candidates running in this election.

Since the beginning of the year alone more than 400,000 people have registered to vote.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin is advising people to only use numbers when filling out the ballot paper so as not to spoil it.

Half a million people live in different constituencies to where they would have been for the last General Election.

You do not need to have your polling information card with you when you go to vote.

However, you should bring a valid form of personal identification such as a passport, a driving licence, a public services card, or an employee or student identity card with a photograph.

Read more: A quick guide to Election 24

It is not permitted to take a photo or selfie inside a polling station.

When the polls close tonight at 10pm the results of the RTÉ, The Irish Times, TG4, Trinity College Dublin Exit Poll carried out by Ipsos B&A will be available.

Attention will then turn to counting the votes with ballots to be transported to 32 count centres across the country.

Counting of votes will take place across the weekend and will continue until all 174 positions in the next Dáil are filled.

RTÉ will provide extensive coverage of General Election 2024 across online, television and radio from the first ballot cast to the final candidate elected.

The RTÉ News app and RTÉ.ie will deliver boots on the ground updates from all 43 constituencies with live trackers dispensing the latest results from every count.

Read more: How you can follow live General Election coverage on RTÉ

Meanwhile, television coverage of General Election 2024 will start at 9am on Saturday and be broadcast across the weekend and into Monday.

RTÉ Radio 1 will give listeners the early tallies, first counts and examine outcomes with a team of analysts, beginning with a special Morning Ireland programme, presented by Áine Lawlor and Gavin Jennings, broadcast live from 8am on Saturday.