Fianna Fáil's stronghold in the Limerick West constituency is secure for another five years following the success of the party's first-time candidate, Niall Collins, who topped the poll in his debut election.
The 34-year-old accountant filled the seat vacated by his uncle Michael Collins, who resigned from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in 2003 after it emerged that he was on a list of tax defaulters. Another uncle, Gerry Collins, was formerly a Fianna Fáil TD in Limerick West and also an MEP.
Niall Collins was elected on the first count after securing 10,396 votes, exceeding the quota by 288. He finished ahead of party colleague John Cregan, who received the fourth-highest vote in the State in the 2002 election. Collins said he was surprised to beat Cregan, who came in second, but insisted that the important thing was both candidates were going to Dublin with two seats for Fianna Fáil.
"The pecking order in which people come in is really irrelevant at the end of the day," he said. Cregan was elected on the third and final count following the distribution of votes received by the Progressive Democrats' Michael Brennan, Labour's James Heffernan and Green Party candidate James Nix, who were all eliminated on previous counts.
Also elected on the third count, despite not reaching the quota, was Fine Gael's Dan Neville, who also took the last seat in the three-seat constituency in 2002, when he defeated party colleague Michael Finucane by just one vote.
This time the gap between the two on the final count was almost 1,000 votes. Neville had close to 500 votes to spare over Finucane after the first count, securing a greater share of the available transfers.
Overall change: No change
Outgoing TDs
John Cregan FF
Michael Collins FF
Dan Neville FG