What does this result mean?

The result means that no one party has secured enough seats in the Dail to form a single party government. If a government is to be formed it will have to be a coalition.

The leader of Fianna Fail, the party which has secured the largest number of seats, will go into negotiations with some of the smaller parties and independents in the hope of securing support to form a coalition government.

State of the parties (with one seat yet to declare)

Fianna Fail - 80 Fine Gael - 31 Labour - 21 Progressive Democrats - 8 Green Party - 6 Sinn Fein - 5 Others - 14

This is a likely outcome and Fianna Fail would prefer to go back into government with their previous coalition partners, the Progressive Democrats.

If that support cannot be secured, Fianna Fail could form a minority one party government with the agreed support of independents but without any of them becoming a partner or minister in government.

But a minority government is never going to be a stable one and commentators say that minority government is never successful government. It is unlikely that a party would want to govern in a minority situation for a full term.

What were the main issues of the campaign?

Irish people are concerned about the same issues which have been affecting many other European countries in recent years - public services, immigration and crime.

The last government was criticised over the state of the health service and education, and the country has been hit by nurses' and teachers' strikes in recent months.

But the opposition, while promising more money for the public sector, so far appears to have failed to come up with a credible alternative.

None of the main parties is perceived to be tough enough on crime, though law and order has hit centre stage since the deaths of two policemen killed by joyriders in mid-April.

Another crime in February - the murder of a Chinese immigrant in Dublin - put the spotlight on racism and asylum-seekers.

Ireland's recent economic boom has made the country attractive to immigrants, and there has been a huge increase in the number of asylum-seekers leading in turn to racial tension.