The focus is shifting to the formation of the next government, with counting completed in 39 of the 43 Dáil constituencies and just 9 seats are left to be filled.
So far, Fianna Fáil has won 44 seats, with Fine Gael and Sinn Féin tied on 37 seats each.
Three candidates were elected to fill the final seats in five-seater Kildare North this afternoon. They were Sinn Féin’s Réada Cronin, Fianna Fáil’s Naoise Ó Cearúil and Fine Gael’s Joe Neville.
Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan, who was the longest serving TD in the Dáil, lost his seat in Kildare North.
Meanwhile, counting continues in Louth, Cavan-Monaghan and Tipperary North.
In Cork North Central, People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Mick Barry requested a full recount, however he later agreed that he would initially accept a recheck of ballot paper bundles.
There are just 35 votes separating him and Labour’s Eoghan Kenny, who was deemed to have won the fifth and final seat after the 17th count.
In Wicklow, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly became the second sitting TD to lose their Dáil seat after failing to secure re-election, losing out to Fine Gael’s Edward Timmons on the final count in the early hours of this morning.
The Green Party’s Catherine Martin, who was Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, lost her seat in Dublin Rathdown yesterday evening.
Meanwhile in Donegal, another minister from the outgoing government has managed to hang-on. Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue took the last seat in the constituency shortly before midnight.
His win came at the expense of Independent TD Thomas Pringle who loses out.
Timmons celebrates election as Donnelly loses out
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Read more: Donnelly – From party co-founder to health minister
The loss of Mr Donnelly is a blow to a Fianna Fáil party that has otherwise enjoyed a successful General Election, securing 44 seats so far on the back of a 21.9% first preference vote.
Fine Gael came in second place in terms of first preference votes on 20.8%, ahead of Sinn Féin on 19%.
With the total number of seats in the Dáil increased from 160 to 174, following the review by the Electoral Commission last year, any potential coalition will need at least 88 TDs.
The Dáil is due to sit for the first time on 18 December, but whether a new government could be formed within that time-frame remains to be seen.
A number of junior ministers failed to hold onto their seats over the weekend, mainly those of a Green persuasion.
Joe O’Brien, Ossian Smyth and Malcom Noonan all suffered from the Green collapse, while in Galway East Fianna Fáil’s Anne Rabbitte has also lost her seat.
Overall, the Green Party representation in Dáil Éireann will fall from 12 in 2020 to just one this time around.
Party leader Roderic O’Gorman was re-elected on the final count in Dublin West.
With his predecessor Eamon Ryan not running in this election, all ten of the other sitting Green TDs lost their seats.
Pledging to revive the party in the years ahead, Mr O’Gorman said they would go into “rebuild mode” from next week.
Green shoots for smaller parties
While it has been a disastrous election for the Greens, two other smaller parties have seen their representation in Leinster House grow significantly.
The Social Democrats came into the election with six TDs and have almost doubled that number, with 11 seats so far.
Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy, who co-founded the party, both stepped aside before this election but the party held onto their seats in Dublin North-West and Kildare North through Rory Hearne and Aidan Farrelly respectively.
It comes on a hectic weekend for party leader Holly Cairns, who gave birth to her daughter on Friday and secured re-election for a second Dáil term in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Her deputy leader, Cian O’Callaghan, has indicated an intention to be active in government formation talks, telling RTÉ News that for smaller parties to enter government, the attitude must be “that we will get policies implemented, we will make changes to people’s lives, and we can come out of government stronger.”
Read more:
Parties prepare for post-election coalition talks
Live results: Every count, every constituency
One party that has experienced the repercussions of a spell in government before is Labour, who saw their seat numbers decimated in 2016 after a period in government.
This time around there are signs of growth, with nine seats secured so far – although one is subject to a recount in Cork North-Central.
Like the Social Democrats, Labour has seen seven new TDs elected so far, along with party leader Ivana Bacik and Duncan Smith.
Aontú has seen their number of TDs double, albeit from a low base. Paul Lawless was elected on the last count in Mayo to join party leader Peadar Tóibín in the Dáil.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael has seen significant renewal of their Dáil team.
The party came into the election on the back of a glut of established TDs announcing that they would not be seeking another term.
That has cleared the decks for a host of new TDs to be elected for the party – with 19 first-timers elected so far.
Overall, there have been almost 60 TDs elected to the Dáil for the first time.
Nine of those newcomers will represent a Sinn Féin party that has secured 36 seats so far.
However the party did lose two TDs from their 2020 crop, with Chris Andrews and Martin Browne failing to secure re-election in Dublin Bay South and Tipperary South.
In Donegal, Charles Ward of the 100% Redress party, set up in September 2023 by campaign groups representing homeowners who have been affected by defective concrete products, has been elected.
Independent Ireland have added one seat, through Ken O’Flynn in Cork North-Central, while 16 Independents have been elected also.
Comebacks and departures
The 2024 General Election has also seen a number of political comebacks, with well-known politicians including Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, Ruth Coppinger, Paul Gogarty and Jerry Buttimer all securing a return to the Dáil after absences.
There was no such luck, however, for a number of former TDs who were seeking to make a return.
Mick Wallace and Clare Daly of Independent4Change, Noel Rock of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers were all unsuccessful in this regard.
Finally, a number of TDs elected in 2020 have failed to hold onto their seats.
As well as those mentioned above, Alan Farrell of Fine Gael and Right To Change TD Joan Collins have lost their seats.
The People Before Profit-Solidarity pair of Gino Kenny and Mick Barry have also lost out – although Mr Barry may have a reprieve as a recount is due in Cork North-Central.
Additional reporting Brian O’Donovan, Cian McCormack
