The Progressive Democrats' loss was Fine Gael's gain, with Alan Shatter taking advantage of Liz O'Donnell's dramatic defeat to claw back the seat he lost in 2002.
Fianna Fáil's Minister for Social and Family Affairs Séamus Brennan was first past the post with 13,373 first-preference votes, comfortably exceeding the quota.
PD deputy leader O'Donnell polled 4,045 first preferences, less than half her 2002 tally, before going on to lose the seat she had held for 15 years on the sixth count.
A misplaced vote bundle at the count centre in Ballinteer led to some confusion over Shatter and party colleague Olivia Mitchell's first-preference votes. When the first count was announced, Shatter's total was 1,000 short of what the tally figures had projected - a huge discrepancy. It was subsequently discovered that the missing votes had been erroneously allocated to Mitchell.
Nevertheless, Shatter had to wait until the ninth and final count to confirm his comeback. Fianna Fáil chief whip Tom Kitt had the second highest share of first-preference votes and retained his seat on the third count, with transfers from Brennan helping to tip him over.
Mitchell secured re-election on the seventh count, while the Greens' Eamon Ryan had to wait until the following count to confirm his return to the Dáil, assisted by a hefty transfer from Labour candidate Alex White.
Sinn Féin's two candidates, Sorcha Nic Cormaic and Shaun Tracey, were early casualties, as was Independent Liam Ó Gógáin.
Overall change: PD loss, FG gain
Outgoing TDs
Séamus Brennan FF
Tom Kitt FF
Olivia Mitchell FG
Liz O'Donnell PD
Eamon RyanGP