The first day of the General Election results saw some massive gains, mainly for Sinn Féin, and some very high-profile losses.
Sinn Féin surge
Among those to come out on top was Sinn Féin's Johnny Mythen, who topped the poll in Wexford with 18,717 votes, well clear of the quota of 12,513.
Mr Mythen missed out on a Dáil seat in 2016 by just 16 votes, and lost his county council seat last year, but has bounced back as part of the Sinn Féin surge.
He is one of a slew of new Sinn Féin TDs, a number of whom topped the poll in constituencies where the party had not held a seat.
Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central); Paul Donnelly (Dublin West); Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth); Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo); Darren O'Rourke (Meath East); Johnny Guirke (Meath West); Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan); Pa Daly (Kerry) and Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath) are all on their way to Leinster House.
Sinn Féin candidates dominate the list of major vote-getters, with even perennial Limerick City poll topper Willie O'Dea unable to hold back the tide.
The party picked up 24.5% of first preference votes, ahead of Fianna Fáil on 22.2% and Fine Gael on 20.9%.
Green gains
The Green Party has also increased its representation in the Dáil.
The party went into the election with three seats, held by Eamon Ryan, Catherine Martin and Joe O'Brien, and after the first day of counting it has five.
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West) and Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire) were both elected rather comfortably, with Mr Smyth taking the first seat in the south Dublin constituency.
Green celebrations as Ossian Smyth is elected. pic.twitter.com/fmsECMxgED
— RTEdúnlaoghaire (@RTEdunlaoghaire) February 9, 2020
In the southeast, Marc Ó Cathasaigh gave the party its first ever seat in Waterford.
Newcomers help main parties stem tide
While it was a tough election for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, both parties did see newcomers take seats.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire) and Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown) both became first-time Fine Gael TDs in the capital, while out west former Mayo footballer Alan Dillon ensured the party held two seats there.
For Fianna Fáil, 22-year-old James O'Connor's election in Cork East represented a green shoot for the party, while Christopher O'Sullivan is a first-time TD in Cork South-West.
Social Democrats make gains
The Social Democrats went into the election with two seats, and have equaled that total after day one and will hope to at least double it by the time counting is concluded.
Party co-leader Catherine Murphy topped the poll in Kildare North, while in Cork South-West there was a surprise as Holly Cairns took the final seat at the expense of Fine Gael.
With Róisín Shortall in line to retain her seat in Dublin North-West and gains possible from Jennifer Whitmore in Wicklow, Cian O'Callaghan in Dublin Bay North and Gary Gannon in Dublin Central it looks like being a good election for the Soc Dems.
Couple goals
The aforementioned Holly Cairns (Social Democrats) and Christopher O'Sullivan (Fianna Fáil) both took seats in Cork South-West, and in doing so become one of the first couples to sit in Dáil Éireann for different parties.
A definite rarity in Irish politics!
8 counts, 9 eliminated candidates, and over 18 hours after the boxes were first opened this morning, the final two seats for #CorkSW in #GE2020 have been filled by partners Cllr O'Sullivan and Cllr Cairns, now that’s couple goals pic.twitter.com/hznr4ar3Xn
— RTEcorkSOUTHWEST (@RTEcorkSTHWEST) February 10, 2020
Elsewhere, the Green Party's Catherine Martin has been elected in Dublin Rathdown with her husband, Francis Duffy, battling it out for a seat in Dublin South-West.
High profile candidates lose out
There were also a number of high profile losers on day one, with three Cabinet members failing to retain their seats.
Fine Gael's Regina Doherty (Meath East) and Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire) both lost their seats, along with outgoing minister for transport, tourism and sport Shane Ross, who was unsuccessful in Dublin Rathdown.
Former tánaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton failed to retain her seat in Dublin West, where prominent Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger also failed to be re-elected.
Out west, Fianna Fáil's Brexit spokesperson Lisa Chambers lost out to Fine Gael's Alan Dillon, while Kevin O'Keeffe lost his seat in Cork East.
Waiting game for party leaders
It was a tough day also for the party leaders.
Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar, Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin and Labour's Brendan Howlin all saw Sinn Féin candidates comfortably topping the poll in their constituencies.
Mr Varadkar had to wait until the fifth count to be elected, Mr Martin was not elected until the sixth count in Cork South-Central and at the time of writing Mr Howlin is yet to be re-elected after seven counts in Wexford.
Fine Gael loses key battles
Cork South-West is without a Fine Gael TD for the first time since 1957, while the party also lost its seat in Waterford.
The seats had been held by Jim Daly and John Deasy respectively, neither of whom put themselves forward for re-election.
Casey crashes out
Peter Casey finished second to Michael D Higgins in the 2018 President election with 23.3% of the vote.
This time around he ran for Dáil Éireann in two constituencies, Donegal and Dublin West.
He was eliminated after the second count in Dublin West with 708 votes, while he had received 1,804 votes in Donegal after the first two counts with the quota set at 12,909.
