Minister for Education Mary Hanafin topped the poll and was closely followed by her party colleague Barry Andrews. A tearful Hanafin was elected on her first count and her surplus ensured Andrews did not have long to wait for his own re-election to be confirmed.
But the constituency's third outgoing government TD did not fair so well; the Progressive Democrats' Fiona O'Malley was eliminated on the fifth count with a disappointing showing of 3,959 first preferences, down from 7,166 in 2002.
Outgoing Labour TD Eamon Gilmore had to wait until the seventh count to take his seat, with the help of transfers from the party's second runner, Cllr Oisín Quinn, as well as from O'Malley and Fine Gael's John Bailey.
Well-publicised tensions between Bailey and his Fine Gael colleague Eugene Regan may not have helped the party's cause. Both were eliminated by the ninth count and their transfers helped ensure the election of Fine Gael's former minister for defence Séan Barrett.
It was the surplus of Barrett's vote that settled the fate of outgoing Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe and Independent Richard Boyd Barrett.
Boyd Barrett, chairman of the Irish anti-war movement and community activist, was the dark horse of the day, collecting 5,233 first preferences.
But while Cuffe's first preferences dropped from 5,002 in 2002, to 4,534, he managed to sneak ahead of his rival with the aid of Regan's transfers on the 9th count, and in the end had more than 2,000 votes to spare.
Overall change: PD loss, FG gain
Outgoing TDs
Mary Hanafin FF
Barry Andrews FF
Eamon Gilmore Lab
Fiona O'Malley PD
Ciarán Cuffe GP
