How it started ...
The five seats for Kildare North were filled after three long days.
It took a while to get going, with no count possible on Saturday, the first count day.
It got racing eventually in Punchestown on day two, and the first to be elected and top the poll on Count 8 was James Lawless of Fianna Fáil.
This was his third time to be elected in Kildare North, having served as a Minister of State in the last administration.
Mr Lawless said the strategy to run two candidates and split the canvass in the constituency had carried a risk but had paid off with two Fianna Fáil candidates elected.
The second seat went to new TD Aidan Farrelly of the Social Democrats. He had been selected to stand after former poll-topper here and Social Democrats co-founder Catherine Murphy had decided not to stand again. She was a regular presence throughout the count.
Réada Cronin of Sinn Féin was re-elected taking the third seat with 10,381 votes and exceeding the quota.
Fine Gael's Joe Neville took the fourth seat without reaching the quota, followed by Fianna Fáil's Naoise Ó Cearúil, who took the last seat without reaching the quota.
Both are newly elected TDs.
It was a long three days.
Father of the Dáil, Bernard Durkan of Fine Gael, said running three candidates had been a bad strategy but was sanguine about losing his seat. He was the oldest serving member in Dáil Éireann.
So, three new TDs from Kildare North are on their way to Dáil Éireann.
How it ended ...
