The next government moved a big step closer to completion after Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Regional Independent Group reached an agreement on Tuesday.
The Regional Independent Group is made up of Michael Lowry, Seán Canney, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, Noel Grealish, Marian Harkin, Barry Heneghan, and Gillian Toole.
Verona Murphy was also a member of the group, and the Wexford TD's successful nomination as Ceann Comhairle was seen as the start of constructive government formation talks.
So who are these eight Independent TDs who will be joining Government?
Michael Lowry
Michael Lowry is seen as the leader of the Regional Independents Group, and his role in government formation talks has been controversial.
Lowry was heavily criticised in a judge-led inquiry examining payments to politicians, the Moriarty Tribunal.
The tribunal was established in September 1997 and examined payments to him and former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
The tribunal’s final report was published in March 2011 and found that Mr Lowry, a former Fine Gael TD, helped businessman Denis O’Brien secure the State’s second mobile phone licence in 1995.
The tribunal also criticised his behaviour as “profoundly corrupt”.
Lowry is a former chair of the Fine Gael party and was Minister for Transport between 1994 and 1996 until he resigned from his ministry in controversy.
Fine Gael barred him from standing for the party again and he ran as an Independent candidate thereafter.
He has maintained his seat in the Dáil ever since.
Seán Canney
Canney has been an Independent TD for the Galway East constituency since 2016.
Prior to his election to the Dáil in 2016, he lectured in construction, economics, and quantity surveying at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) for nearly 10 years.
He served as a Minister of State from 2016 to 2017 and again from 2018 to 2020.
He has also served as Mayor of Galway for the term 2007 to 2008, and served on a number of boards and committees.
Canney has advocated for the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor to trains from Galway to Claremorris.
Kevin 'Boxer' Moran
Moran previously served as an Independent TD for the Longford–Westmeath constituency from 2016 to 2020.
He was the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform from 2017 to 2020.
Moran was a member of Westmeath County Council from 1999 to 2016, and represented Fianna Fáil until 2011.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Moran revealed that he got his nickname 'boxer' from when he punched an opponent in a football match at the age of 12.
Noel Grealish
Noel Grealish has been a TD for the Galway West constituency since the 2002 general election.
He is from the Gaeltacht region of Carnmore, near Galway and was formerly a Progressive Democrats TD.
Grealish first contested an election in 1999, when he was elected to Galway County Council.
He became the leader of the Progressive Democrats in March of 2009, and served as interim and final leader of the party until November 2009, at which point the party disbanded.
In 2019, Grealish faced criticism for allegedly portraying African asylum seekers as economic migrants who “sponge off the system”.
At the time, The Irish Times reported that the comments were ascribed to him after a public meeting in Oughterard, Co Galway over speculation that a direct provision centre may be located in a disused hotel close to the town.
Marian Harkin
Marian Harkin has served as a TD for the Sligo–Leitrim constituency since the 2020 general election, and previously from 2002 to 2007.
She also previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2019.
Harkin worked as a maths teacher at Mercy College secondary school in Sligo for 25 years before entering into politics.
Her work at local level led to her appointment to Developing the West Together, which evolved into the Council for the West, of which she became chairperson.
Barry Heneghan
Heneghan has only been a TD for the Dublin Bay North constituency since the most recent general election, and he is youngest member of the Regional Independent Group.
He was previously the presenter of the TG4 show Barragram.
Heneghan was elected to Dublin City Council for the first time at the 2024 Dublin City Council election for Clontarf area.
He had the backing of Finian McGrath in the 2024 general election and was one of the youngest candidates elected at age 26.
Heneghan is the brother of writer and television presenter Ciara Ní É.
Gillian Toole
Toole is a TD for the Meath East constituency. She was previously a Meath County Councillor from 2014 to 2024.
She was elected to Meath County Council as a member of Fine Gael at the 2014 Irish local elections for the Ratoath electoral area.
She then went on to resign from Fine Gael in March 2019. She cited frustration with party policies relating to public transport, healthcare, and community safety.
It later came out that former Fine Gael TD John V Farrelly made comments, allegedly about Toole, at a party meeting a few months after she had left the party.
Speaking to The Irish Times at the time, Toole said the language allegedly used in the incident was “unacceptable”.
Verona Murphy
Verona Murphy made history when she was elected the first female Ceann Comhairle for the 34th Dáil.
She has served as a TD for the Wexford constituency since 2020.
She was a successful businesswoman and haulage company owner before entering politics, and was elected president of the Irish Road Haulage Association in 2015.
After Mick Wallace was elected to the European Parliament in 2019 and a by-election called in Wexford, Ms Murphy was selected as the Fine Gael candidate.
She was backed by the party and then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar was full of praise for her, campaigning with Ms Murphy early on.
However, her campaign unravelled after controversial comments about asylum seekers.
She claimed some asylum seekers arriving in Ireland need to be “de-programmed” as they may have been influenced by Islamic State.
