Fresh faces aplenty as 44 first-time TDs elected to Dáil

At least 44 first-time TDs are so far guaranteed to take their seats in the 34th Dáil.

For Fine Gael, it has been very much a tale of out with the old and in with the new.

In the build up to the General Election, the party faced a slew of high-profile exits - with more than a third of the 35 TDs who won a seat in 2020 departing the political stage.

Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and senior figures like Simon Coveney, Heather Humphreys, Richard Bruton and Charlie Flanagan were among the mass exodus.

As a result, Fine Gael had to run a number of new faces in several constituencies across the country, and so far, 15 of them have been successfully elected.

In Mr Varadkar's former constituency, Dublin West, Emer Currie successully defended her former party leader's seat, taking the third of five on offer.

Charlie Flanagan left his Laois-Offaly seat vacant after decades serving in the Dáil. For the 2024 Election, this constituency was split in two - and Fine Gael managed to return a new TD in each of them in William Aird (Laois) and John Clendennen (Offaly).

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Maeve O'Connell was elected in Dublin Rathdown, Josepha Madigan's former parish, while James Geoghegan regained the party's seat in Dublin Bay South. Former minister for housing Eoghan Murphy was elected there in 2020 before Ivana Bacik took it for Labour in a by-election following his departure from politics in 2021.

Other Fine Gael first-timers include Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire), Noel McCarthy (Cork East), Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West), John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West), Peter Roche (Galway East), Joe Cooney (Clare), Michael Murphy (Tipperary South), John Cummins (Waterford), Brian Brennan (Wicklow-Wexford) and Keira Keogh (Mayo).

Fianna Fáil are on course to take the highest number of seats in this election - boosted by nine TDs set to make their Leinster House bow.

Perhaps best known out of Fianna Fáil's rookies is Séamus McGrath - brother of former minister for finance and now European Commissioner Michael McGrath.

One of the youngest new kids on the block is Albert Dolan - who was elected in Galway East on his 26th birthday.

Micheál Martin's party lost a big figure in Offaly when Barry Cowen was elected to Europe in June. It also marked the end of a political dynasty as this election marked the first time since 1969 that there would be no Cowen family member there.

Tony McCormack stepped up to the plate and retained Fianna Fáil's Offaly seat.

Other first-time Fianna Fáil TDs include Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South-Central), Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid-West) Aisling Dempsey (Meath West) and Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway), Michael Cahill (Kerry) and Shay Brennan (Dublin Rathdown).

Following the 2020 election, many felt Sinn Féin would have won a significantly higher number of seats if they had ran more than 42 candidates.

They won 37 seats that time around, and this time, Mary Lou McDonald's party put forward a whopping 71 canddiates to run across the country.

Of the 30 seats they have secured so far in this election, seven of them are debutantes.

In Waterford, newcomer Conor McGuinness took a second seat for the party alongside David Cullinane.

Other Sinn Féin candidates who will be entering the Dáil Chamber for the first time are Donna McGettigan (Clare), Ann Graves (Dublin Fingal East), Louis O'Hara (Galway East) Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South) and Fionntán Ó Súílleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford).

Read more: Well-known names among TDs who fail to retain seats

The Social Democrats have already secured their best ever performance in a general election - winning nine seats so far - up on the six they took in 2020. Six of those seats were won by first-timers.

Former co-leaders and party founders Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy both announced their retirment from politics in the run-up to this election.

In Ms Shortall's former Dublin North-West constituency, Rory Hearne topped the poll to keep the seat in the SocDem family. Aidan Farrelly, meanwhile, looks well placed to retain Ms Murphy's seat in Kildare North.

Liam Quaide (Cork East), Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South), Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central), Jen Cummins (Dublin South-Central) and Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown) are three other new Social Democrat TDs who will be entering the Dáil for the first time.

The Labour Party have also enjoyed an impressive election result thus far, winning eight seats - six courtesy of newcomers.

All eyes were on the Dublin Central constituency where Marie Sherlock was locked in one of the most exhilarating races ever seen in the halls of the RDS with Gerard Hutch.

It went right down to the wire between Ms Sherlock and Mr Hutch, with the former narrowly edging the Independent candidate to take a Dáil seat for the first time.

Another particular point of interest for Labour would have been the Wexford constituency - where they had to fill a Brendan Howlin-shaped hole.

Former Labour leader Howlin served Wexford in the Dáil for 37 years before retiring ahead of this election.

After stepping out of the count centre to help Santa switch on Wexford town's Christmas lights, current Wexford Mayor George Lawlor returned to successully hear he had won the seat for Labour on the last count.

Other first-time Labour TDs include Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West), Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South-West), Mark Wall (Kildare South) and Conor Sheehan (Limerick City.

Meanwhile, Aontú, for the first time ever, will have a TD not named Peadar Tóibín in the chamber.

Paul Lawless will join his party's leader in the Dáil after winning a seat in Mayo.

Ken O'Flynn, a former Fianna Fáil councillor, joined Independent Ireland for the party's first ever election - and now he will enter the Dáil for the first time after being elected in Cork North Central.