The five-seat constituency of Kerry has returned two Fianna Fáil TDs, a gain for the party at the expense of Fine Gael, alongside two sitting Independents, and one sitting Sinn Féin.
This is the third general election since Kerry became a single constituency, combining the former three seaters of Kerry North and Kerry South.
It will be the first time in almost 80 years the county will not be sending a Fine Gael TD to Dáil Éireann.
Fianna Fáil’s Michael Cahill, a councillor took the final seat, 757 votes in advance of Fine Gael candidate Billy O’Shea of Killorglin
The seat had been held by Brendan Griffin of nearby Castlemaine in mid-Kerry.
Brothers Michael and Danny who hail from the Fianna Fáil gene pool were elected for the third time.
Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly was elected for the second time but his vote was down from his huge performance in 2020. Daly, a Tralee solicitor and Sinn Féin justice spokesman took the second Kerry seat on the eighth count.
Strategy told for both the Healy Raes and Fianna Fáil. Healy Rae supporters voted in line with 2020 and with the map distributed to every household “respectfully” showing how to vote “1 & 2″. Danny narrowed into the Killarney area, received 2,633 transfers – close to half his brother’s surplus.
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Fianna Fáil’s three candidate strategy netted a second seat for the party.
The party’s first preference vote is up six percentage points on 2020 the last election to 26.23 per cent.
The Fine Gael vote was almost halved.