Counting has been suspended in Dun Laoghaire until tomorrow after Labour's Ivana Bacik called for a recount.
Eamon Gilmore topped the poll on the first count in Dún Laoghaire this afternoon and was elected with 11,468 first preferences, just 132 over the quota.
Fine Gael's Seán Barrett was elected on the eighth count. His running mate Mary Mitchell O'Connor appears poised to take the third seat.
From the tally earlier today it was evident that the final seat in the four seat constituency, down from a five-seater, would come down to a battle between United Left Alliance and Labour. ULA candidate Richard Boyd Barrett polled 6,206 first preferences and Ms Bacik got 5,749.
Ms Bacik currently trails Mr Boyd Barrett by less than 200 votes. She is understood to be unhappy with the first count and demanded a full recount.
Counting will resume tomorrow morning.
Fianna Fail's deputy leader Mary Hanafin said tonight she was not confident of retaining her seat.
Former minister for children Barry Andrews made a brief visit to the count centre with his wife. He had polled 3,542 first preferences.
Mr Andrews rejected the suggestion that he made a mistake by not moving to the Dublin South constituency and allowing Ms Hanafin to run alone. "On no, absolutely not, this is my home and it always will be," he said.
It was too early to make decisions about his future. "I'll go home and see the kids and apologise for the total neglect over the last couple of weeks. I'll think about that another day," he said.
