Labour leader Mr Ruairi Quinn has retained his seat in Dublin South East after a poor first count showing by his standards.
It was speculated earlier that Mr Quinn may lose his seat to Fine Gael's Ms Francis Fitzgerald.
In the end he prevailed and took the fourth and final seat.
Progressive Democrat, Mr Michael McDowell, topped the poll with the Green Party's Mr John Gormley and Fianna Fáil's, Mr Eoin Ryan in second and third.
Mr Quinn, who collected 4,032 first preference votes, and fought off Ms Fitzgerald and Fianna Fáil's Mr Chris Andrews.
The Labour leader said the results so far have taken everyone by surprise and they would have to analysed in some detail. Mr Quinn predicted Fianna Fáil would gain an overall majority. He said it looked more and more likely that Mr Ahern would get the 84 seats needed for a majority.
As to his own party's fortunes he said it was difficult to tell as many seats would not be decided until late into the night but he was confident of increasing his Labour's total in Leinster House.
The Labour leader came third in Dublin South East in the General Election in 1997.