Healy-Rae brothers defy convention to conquer reunited Kingdom of Kerry

Two brothers with over two quotas between them, a new Fianna Fáil TD, a Fine Gael minister losing his seat to his former parliamentary assistant, the elimination of a Labour TD, the scraping home of Sinn Féin TD, and no woman TD once again, are among the key factors in the new Kerry constituency.

With 16 candidates vying for five seats, and five sitting TDs seeking re-election, and a new single constituency united for the first time since 1937, Kerry was expected to be full of variables.

However, a month ago, no-one would have predicted that two brothers from the tiny village of Kilgarvan (population 213) in South-east Kerry would elect the first of the TDs in the second biggest geographical constituency spanning the State.