Ireland’s parliament will sit for the first time later following November’s election.

Fianna Fáil won the most seats in the Dáil (lower house of parliament) but it was not enough for a majority and so they have formed another coalition with Fine Gael, who came third.

But they need the support of others, including those in the Regional Independent Group and Kerry politicians the Healy-Rae brothers.

As the name suggests, the regional independents are a group of seven independent Teachtaí Dála (TDs) – five men and two women – who hail from more rural areas. Many have been in Dáil for years.

So who are the new kingmakers?

The regional independents are led by controversial TD Michael Lowry.

He is a politician who is well known beyond his constituency of Tipperary North.

He entered politics as a county councillor in 1979 before being elected as a Fine Gael TD in 1987. He has been an independent since 1997.

Since the general election in 2020, Lowry has been a member of the then newly formed Independent Regional Group.

The former minister for transport, energy and communications has been convicted of a tax offence and failing to keep proper books of account.

In 2018, Lowry and his refrigeration company Garuda Ltd were fined €25,000 for the offences.

More recently, a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions over the Moriarty tribunal findings last year, 14 years after the tribunal’s final report.

The tribunal was set up in 1997 to examine financial payments made to former Irish premier Charlie Haughey and Lowry.

Its final report was published in 2011 and contained details of its investigation into possible links between businessman Denis O’Brien and Lowry.

It found that as communications minister Lowry helped Mr O’Brien secure the state’s second mobile phone licence for his company Digifone in 1995.

It described Mr Lowry’s role as “disgraceful and insidious”.

Earlier this month, upon hearing the news that a file had been sent to prosecutors, Lowry said: “All those involved, including myself, have steadfastly maintained that there was no wrongdoing or impropriety attached to the award of the licence.”

He said the police contacted him for assistance last year and that was the first time he had heard from them since 2011.

“At no point, on that occasion or since, was it suggested that there were or are any charges being contemplated against me,” he added.

The Galway West TD is expected to be given a super junior ministry role.

First elected in 2002, Noel Grealish was a Progressive Democrat until the party disbanded in 2009.

In September 2019, Grealish faced criticism for comments he made about asylum seekers.

At a public meeting to do with plans for a housing centre on the site of a former hotel in Galway, Grealish said the potential asylum seekers would most likely be African economic migrants and, as he put it, not genuine Christian refugees fleeing persecution.

Mr Grealish then described them as “spongers” off the state.

Later that same year, he claimed in the Dáil that immigrants in Ireland were sending money out of the country, and singled out Nigerian residents, claiming they were sending €3.5 billion to the country.

He went on to suggest the money was generated by crime.

The Central Statistics Office of Ireland debunked his statement.

Grealish also served as Captain of Oireachtas Golf Society and the so-called “Golfgate” event took place under his leadership.

The event caused widespread outrage in Ireland as it broke Ireland’s Covid-19 guidelines by having more than 80 people together for a gathering after rules had changed to limit such meetings.

Four people, including Grealish, were charged over the event but after a three-day trial in 2022, all charges were dismissed.

Kevin “Boxer” Moran, the Longford-Westmeath TD, is certainly having a bit of a political comeback.

After the 2016 election, he was appointed by the government as minister of state at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with responsibility for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief.

He lost his seat at the 2020 general election, before regaining it again in 2024.

He got his boxer nickname after hitting someone at a football match when he was a child, according to RTÉ.

Sean Canney, the Galway East TD since 2016, was once minister of state at the Department of Rural and Community Development and at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

He had special responsibility for natural resources, community affairs and digital development.

A quantity surveyor by profession, he worked in the private sector for 25 years.

Marian Harkin is one of the most experienced politicians in the group.

TD for the Sligo–Leitrim constituency since the 2020 general election, she previously held the role from 2002 to 2007.

She also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2019.

Barry Heneghan is the youngest of the group.

The 26-year-old was first elected to Dublin City Council in 2024.

Later the same year, he was elected TD for Dublin Bay North.

On his website, he says he graduated from Dublin City University with an degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s in sustainable energy systems.

Another new face is the TD for Meath East.

Gillian Toole was previously a Meath County councillor from 2014 to 2024, first elected as a member of Fine Gael.

She resigned from Fine Gael in March 2019, citing frustration with the party’s policies, particularly in relation to public transport, healthcare and community safety.

She said the party no longer represented the needs of the people of the local area.

Her other job has been a community pharmacist for 35 years.

Brothers Michael and Danny Healy-Rae come from a political dynasty based in the Kilgarvan area of County Kerry.

Their father Jackie served as a Fianna Fáil councillor in Kerry from 1973 until 2003 – then when the party did not select him, he ran as an Independent TD.

Michael joined his father on the council in 1999 and when Jackie vacated his council seat in 2003, Danny was co-opted in his pace.

When Jackie retired from the Dáil in the 2011 general election, Michael was elected, followed by Danny in 2016.

Various members of their family also serve as councillors in Kerry, and on their parliamentary staff.

Jackie was well known for wearing a flat cap with Michael carrying on the tradition, even wearing it inside the Dáil chamber.

The brothers are very vocal on the rights of farmers and life in rural Ireland.

The villages in Kerry where they are based have large murals and signs dedicated to them.