Published Sunday, 27 February 2011
After securing 13 seats in the poll - including in Co Louth where party president Gerry Adams topped the poll - Sinn Féin now has significant representation north and south of the border.
Party members have said it could be a springboard to further growth.
"This election is a step-change for Sinn Féin," Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said.
"It will be very powerful for Sinn Féin to see the leader of our party being elected, and effectively being full time in the south and in Dublin through the Dáil, which is of huge importance because all of that undoubtedly complements the strides forward we have taken in the north."
The turnabout in fortunes for the party, whose number of Dáil seats had fallen from five to four in 2007, will see them go into the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in good heart.
However Basil McCrea, from the UUP, has warned it could bring about polarised voting in May.
"What I could see happening is there could be a polarisation to Sinn Féin and the DUP," Mr McCrea told UTV.
"I think that would be unhelpful for democracy and bad for NI and it's really important to all of the people, many of whom don't vote, that they do realise this is a possibility and they must come out and vote."
The biggest casualty of the election was former ruling party Fianna Fáil, who have borne the brunt of voters' anger at the country's economic turmoil.
They will be reduced to a small opposition party in the new Dáil, but amongst his plans for the party's future, leader Micheál Martin has suggested they could stand for election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2015.
Meanwhile there have been calls for increased cooperation between governments north and south in the wake of the election.
Alliance MLA for North Down Stephen Farry said the new Fine Gael and Labour government cannot afford to be "inward looking".
"No one under-estimates the immense economic and financial issues facing what seems certain to be an incoming Fine Gael and Labour coalition government," Mr Farry said.
"Alliance believes that there are significant efficiencies and economies of scale can be found through enhanced north-south co-operation. This need not require new institutions and should happen irrespective of political and constitutional aspirations."