Kevin Cunningham: How Ireland’s political landscape is changing – as both the left and right had their say in presidential election

TV debates had major impact on outcome of election, analysis shows

Micheál Martin at Dublin Castle on Saturday. Photo: PA

Several senior politicians have said a response is needed to the 213,738 spoilt votes in the presidential election.

It represents 13pc of all votes cast on Friday, and a more than tenfold ­increase on the number of spoilt votes in the last presidential election, when there were 18,438 invalid ballots.