The 2007 election will be remembered in Louth for the failure of Fine Gael's high risk strategy to secure a second seat by adding MEP Mairéad McGuinness to the ticket and the success of Fianna Fáil's Séamus Kirk who topped the poll just a few months after being dubbed "political history".
The Fine Gael campaign was fuelled by a poll published in two local newspapers that suggested McGuinness could take Kirk's seat.
The first tallies revealed this was not going to happen and that Fianna Fáil would safely hold its two seats; in fact Kirk topped the poll with 200 first preference votes more than Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern.
By early afternoon McGuinness had conceded defeat but she said the party had significantly increased its vote. Indeed, the party's re-elected TD, Fergus O'Dowd, claimed if there had been a fifth seat in Louth it would have gone to Fine Gael.
It was clear that the people of Drogheda wanted to hold on to O'Dowd who is the only Drogheda-based TD in the constituency. When Labour's Gerald Nash and Frank Maher of Fianna Fáil were eliminated the bulk of their transfers went to the Fine Gael man.
Labour's vote dropped slightly on 2002 as did Sinn Féin's, but the Green Party increased its vote share to 7.5 per cent - up 3 percentage points. The party ran a good campaign and some pundits had even speculated beforehand that its candidate, Mark Deary, could take the seat of Séamus Kirk.
Kirk, Ahern and O'Dowd were all elected on the fifth count and Sinn Féin's Arthur Morgan secured his return to the Dáil on the sixth and final count.
Overall change: No change
Outgoing TDs
Dermot Ahern FF
Séamus Kirk FF
Fergus O'Dowd FG
Arthur Morgan SF