Kerry’s five TDs to take up their seats in 34th Dáil today

Five Kerry TDs will take up their seats today in the 34th Dáil.

The general election saw the number of dáil seats expand to 174, with four new constituencies compared to the 33rd government.

More than 60 first-time TDs will sit in Leinster House today, including Kerry’s newest TD, Michael Cahill.

17 candidates contested for the five seats in the Kerry constituency in November’s general election, which saw four sitting TDs returned and one new deputy elected.

Following a marathon 15 hour tally and count, independent TD Michael Healy-Rae won the first seat in the county – his fourth Dáil term and third time topping the poll in Kerry.

Michael Healy-Rae celebrates after topping the poll and being elected on the first count in Kerry in the 2024 General Election. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry

Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly took the second seat, after he was re-elected on the seventh count.

Deputy Pa Daly celebrates being elected on count 7 at the Kerry General Election count centre in the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry

Independent deputy Danny Healy-Rae secured his third dáil term in count 11.

Danny Healy-Rae celebrates after being elected in Kerry. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry

Fianna Fáil’s Norma Foley surpassed the quota to take seat four on the 13th count.

Fianna Fáil's Norma Foley celebrate's her election in Kerry. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry

She was joined by party-colleague and first time TD Michael Cahill, who was elected to the final seat in the constituency in count 13, without reaching the quota.

Fianna Fáil's Michael Cahill celebrate's his election in Kerry. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry

It’s the first general election no Fine Gael TD has been returned from any part of Kerry since the party was founded.

The 34th dáil will meet for the first time today, where the deputies will select a new Ceann Comhairle by secret ballot, followed by nominations for Taoiseach.

The election saw Fianna Fáil win most seats nationally with 48, followed by Sinn Féin with 39 TDs, Fine Gael won 38 seats, Labour and Social Democrats both took 11 seats, People Before Profit-Solidarity took three; Aontú won two; the Green Party retained one seat, while Independents and others took 21 seats.