An agreement was finally reached in which Fianna Fáil would tolerate a Fine Gael–led minority government on 29 April, 63 days after the election, and the Dáil formally re-elected Kenny as Taoiseach on 6 May.

The outgoing government was a Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition led by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton.

Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit, Renua, Social Democrats, Workers and Unemployed Action, and independent non-party TDs formed the opposition in the Dáil.

[10] Whereas the Constitution gives the President authority to dissolve the Dáil, under electoral law the precise date of polling is specified by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, who was Alan Kelly of Labour.

[12] Kenny rejected predictions in October 2015 that he would call an election in November to capitalise on rising Fine Gael support.

[16] At 09:58 while Kenny was en route to Áras an Uachtaráin to meet the President, the election date of 26 February was confirmed from his Twitter account.

[18] A number of parties and political alliances were formed during the lifespan of the 31st Dáil in order to contest the election: Part 6 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012 provides that parties will lose half of their state funding unless at least 30% of their candidates at the election are female and at least 30% are male.

The Ceann Comhairle (speaker of the lower house of parliament) is automatically re-elected unless he opts to retire from the Dáil.

[64] The Green Party, which had no TDs (having lost them all in 2011), took an unsuccessful High Court case against the exclusion of its leader Eamon Ryan.

[68] There was also a "live audience discussion" on RTÉ Two on 21 February featuring Timmy Dooley (FF), Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour), Averil Power (non-party), Eamon Ryan (Greens), Leo Varadkar (FG), and Adrienne Wallace (AAA-PBP).

[69] There was some controversy surrounding this debate as a representative of special needs parents said she was to appear to ask a question on waiting lists only to be told by RTÉ later that the topic would not be covered.

Having been without representation in Dublin since the death of Brian Lenihan in 2011, Fianna Fáil managed to win six seats in the capital this time.

Despite speculation that she would lose her seat, Joan Burton became the first sitting Tánaiste to avoid defeat at a general election since Mary Harney in 2002.

[85] Labour's vote collapse meant that not until the Longford–Westmeath result did they reach the seven-seat threshold to qualify as a parliamentary group with full speaking rights under current Dáil rules.

It was the first time the vote for Ireland's two traditionally dominant parties had fallen below 50 per cent in a general election.

•People Before Profit Alliance•Anti-Austerity Alliance Enda Kenny immediately conceded that the outgoing coalition government of Fine Gael and Labour would be unable to continue.