Outgoing Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has today urged Fine Gael and Labour to form a coalition government "as quickly as possible".
Mr Lenihan, who retained his seat in Dublin West on the final count, says the tough medicine dolled out by the outgoing Government meant the writing was on the wall for Fianna Fail for a long time.
"From a national point of view what’s important now is that Fine Gael and Labour get together and form a Government as quickly as possible," he said.