Senator Micheál Kitt topped the poll in Galway East following his shock defeat in the 2002 election to claim one of two Fianna Fáil seats.
He made it a hat-trick of successes for the Kitt family, joining siblings Áine Brady of Kildare North and Tom Kitt of Dublin South in the next Dáil. But Micheál Kitt's success was at the expense of party colleague Joe Callanan, who lost the seat he had won five years ago.
None of the candidates reached a quota until the eighth count, with long-serving Fine Gael TD Paul Connaughton the first to claim a seat, followed by Kitt. Independent TD Paddy McHugh failed to repeat his strong 2002 performance and his first preferences were down by more than half.
There was a nail-biting contest between three Fine Gael candidates for the third seat, with just a handful of votes dividing cardiologist Dr John Barton, Senator Ulick Burke and Tuam councillor Tom McHugh.
It took until count nine for Burke to cross the line, while Fianna Fáil Minister of State Noel Treacy took the last seat without reaching the quota after Callanan was eliminated. Burke hailed the success of the "railway strategy", under which the four Fine Gael candidates divided the constituency in half, with Barton and Burke canvassing south of the Dublin-Galway railway line and McHugh and Connaughton keeping to the north.
Burke received 2,296 transfers from Barton. In contrast, McHugh got only 226 transfers, putting him out of contention for the fourth seat.
"I restrained myself within the terms of the strategy. It's for others to say if they did or not," Burke said.
Overall change: Independent loss, FG gain
Outgoing TDs
Noel Treacy FF
Joe Callanan FF
Paul Connaughton FG
Paddy McHugh Ind