Sinn Féin has withdrawn its request for a full recount in the Ireland South constituency for the European Parliament.

The distribution of the party's outgoing MEP Liadh Ní Riada's 98,379 votes will begin tomorrow.

Sinn Féin formally made the request to Returning Officer Martin Harvey following formal adjudication on 120 votes today.

Fine Gael's Seán Kelly and Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fáil were deemed elected last week in the five-seat constituency.

Independents 4 Change candidate Mick Wallace is on target to take the third seat.

Fine Gael's Deirdre Clune and Grace O'Sullivan of the Green Party are chasing the crucial fourth seat.

The fifth seat - the so-called Brexit seat - cannot be taken up until the UK leaves the European Union.

Ms Ní Riada spent 40 minutes at the count centre in Cork this afternoon speaking to her director of elections, Jonathan O’Brien before the request to end the full recount was made.

Speaking to RTÉ News, she said that it was important for her to make sure every 't' was crossed and every 'i' was dotted, not only for herself but for the staff of seven she has had working for her for the past five years.

"It is important," she said, "that I know that I did everything possible to ensure that they can now move on knowing that I did all I could to ensure that they had that confidence".

Mr O'Brien confirmed the full recount request had been withdrawn but declined to apologise for the decision taken last Thursday to call for the recount.

Ms O'Sullivan said it was a sad day as she had hoped to serve in Brussels with Ms Ní Riada. She praised the Sinn Féin candidate's track record over the past five years.

Ms O'Sullivan said the distribution of Ms Ní Riada's votes meant that she was in contention for the fourth seat.