The Green Party has suffered significant losses in the General Election, with its leader expecting just a handful of TDs to be returned.
Junior ministers Joe O'Brien and Ossian Smyth have both lost their seats in Dublin Fingal West and Dún Laoghaire respectively, while Francis Noel Duffy also lost his seat in Dublin South-West.
Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman said the party could not buck the trend of junior coalition partners in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments losing support in subsequent elections.
He said they expected to retain two to three seats out of the 12 they had won in the 2020 election on the back of a worldwide "green wave".
"Undoubtedly it's a disappointing result for our party today," Mr O'Gorman told reporters in Ongar, Dublin.
"It's hard for a smaller party in government, that's long been the tradition, the history in Ireland. We hoped going into the election to buck that [trend] but we haven't been able to buck that today."
Mr O'Gorman, a candidate in Dublin West, is among the few outgoing Green Party TDs still in a battle to retain their seats.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One news, the TD for Dublin West said while today’s result has been disappointing, his party will "start the rebuild next week".
Minister for Culture Catherine Martin, who is fighting to remain a Green Party TD for Dublin Rathdown, said it was a "very tight" race in her four-seat constituency.
"We go in (to government) not afraid of that because the issue of the climate and biodiversity crisis is (greater) than our survival," she said.
"I stand over and am proud of our track record of delivery."
Speaking earlier, Joe O'Brien thanked his campaign members for their work over the last few weeks and months.
"Our message remains as relevant as ever; we're going to have a bad day today electorally, I think that's pretty clear, but we're not going anywhere," he said.
"We'll still be around, we'll still believe in what we believe in, and when the tide comes back in for us, we'll still put ourselves forward."
Outgoing TD Francis Noel Duffy was excluded on the second count in Dublin South-West, while Pippa Hackett is out of the running in Offaly.
Hazel Chu replaced former Greens leader Eamon Ryan on the ballot sheet in Dublin Bay South. A completed tally ranked seventh in the four-seat constituency, with 8%, and she was eliminated on count seven.
Green candidate in Waterford Marc Ó Cathasaigh said he would not be "in the shake-up" to retain his seat in that constituency.
Neasa Hourigan is at risk in Dublin Central, while Wicklow's Steven Matthews garnered just 4% of first preferences.
Mr Ryan, who announced his retirement from frontline politics in June, said his party had not had a good day.
Arriving at the count centre at the RDS in Dublin, the outgoing Minister for Environment told reporters: "If you don't get elected you accept that, but you come back stronger and you learn lessons, and we've done that in the past and we will do that again."
He added: "No matter what the results today there will be a strong Green Party in Ireland, we have deep roots in the community and it's a very distinct political philosophy and I think there is still space for that in Irish politics, for sure."
Mr Ryan said he did not believe his decision to retire, and the timing of his announcement, had affected the party's showing.
"Unfortunately - and this is just one of those days - we didn't get the number of votes," he said.
He added: "We'll look back and see what are the lessons, and what can we learn and what can we do differently.
"It's just one of those days when we didn't have a good day."
