Five senators have been elected to the new Seanad in the five-seater Cultural and Educational panel.
The three outgoing Fianna Fáil senators, Mr Paschal Mooney, Mr Labhras Ó Murchú and Ms Ann Ormonde have retained their seats. Mr Mooney, who was first to be elected, on the 12th count, secured over 114,000 first preference votes.
Fine Gael also retained its two Seanad seats on the panel. Mr Brian Hayes, who lost his Dail seat in Dublin South West in the general election, and Mr Noel Coonan, who had contested Tipperary North.
Mr John Brassil, a Fianna Fail councillor from Ballyheigue, in Kerry North, was a strong performer, and, at one stage during the count, seemed set to challenge Ms Ormonde for her seat.
The new Fine Gael senators replace outgoing senator Ms Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, and Mr Maurice Manning, one of the party's best known personalities, who failed to secure a Seanad nomination.
Counting will continue late into this evening for the agricultural panel, where there are 28 candidates for 11 seats.
A total of 43 senators will be elected to the five vocational panels. They each have the same electorate of 971, made up of the 166 TDs from the new Dail, the 51 outgoing senators and the State's 754 local councillors. The remaining nine senators were elected to the Dail in the general election. Just 15 of the total electorate did not vote.
When the Seanad election is complete, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will nominate 11 additional senators, who will include four members of the Progressive Democrats.