Vocational panels:Labour had a spectacular gain at Fianna Fáil's expense in the Labour panel with the help of Senator Michael McCarthy, who was denied a party nomination.
Mr McCarthy, an unsuccessful general election candidate in Cork South West, was nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions when his own party turned him down. The other Labour victor in the panel was Phil Prendergast, an unsuccessful general election candidate in Tipperary South.
Mr McCarthy's victory surprised some Labour observers, who privately conceded that his electoral appeal had been underestimated.
He told The Irish Times there was "no tension whatsoever" between himself and party headquarters. "I was thrilled to get re-elected, and it represents a bonus seat for the party. I hope to put my name forward for selection as a candidate at the next general election."
Mr McCarthy polled 4,095 first preferences in the general election, well behind Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates. However, with the two sitting FG deputies, Jim O'Keeffe and PJ Sheehan, likely to retire at the next election, the way might be open for Labour to win back a seat the late Michael Pat Murphy held for years until the early 1980s.
Ms Prendergast, a member of Tipperary County Council, said she was thrilled with the result.
"The groundwork we put in now will stand by us for the next general election when we hope to take a seat for Labour in Tipperary South when the party will be 100-years-old, having been established in Clonmel in 1912."
The Fianna Fáil victim of the Labour surge was outgoing Senator Don Lydon, who had failed to get a party nomination and was nominated instead by a number of Oireachtas members.
The Labour panel result also saw the return to the Oireachtas of former Dublin South East TD Frances Fitzgerald, who was an unsuccessful general election candidate in Dublin Mid West. Before her defeat in 2002 she was a high-profile member of the Fine Gael front bench, and was sometimes spoken of as a future leader.
Donie Cassidy, an unsuccessful general election candidate in Longford-Westmeath, returned to his old Seanad stomping ground, while Ned O'Sullivan, a Listowel-based Kerry county councillor, pulled off a political coup by narrowly taking the last seat.
The election of Galway Fine Gael councillor Fidelma Healy-Eames from Oranmore provides the party with a potential high-profile candidate in Galway West at the next election, when sitting TD Padraic McCormack is expected to retire. He had announced his retirement before the last election, but headquarters persuaded him to change his mind.
Meanwhile, counting in the Industrial and Commercial panel continued late last night. One of the early casualties was former minister of state Ivor Callely, who lost his Dublin North Central seat in the general election.
The Labour-SF vote deal saw Labour's Dominic Hannigan, an unsuccessful general election candidate in Meath East, elected on the first count. He was followed by outgoing Fianna Fáil senator Marc MacSharry, son of former tánaiste and EU commissioner Ray MacSharry.
A strong performer among the Fine Gael ranks was outgoing senator Paul Coghlan, putting him on course for a third term.
