Irish bookmaker BoyleSports is paying out on a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil government.

Aoife Heffron, PR Executive for BoyleSports said: "We have decided to put punters out of their misery in what is expected to be a gruelling wait for an inevitable result on the next Irish Government and paid out a five figure sum on a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition to be the next Government.”

FF's Timmy Dooley rules out any deal with FG or SF pic.twitter.com/n5VWnr0igF — RTEclare (@RTEclare) February 27, 2016

"The payout has come not even 24-hours after polls closed for the Irish General Election and moments after the first TD was elected into the 32nd Dáil.

"It undoubtedly has the potential to see BoyleSports getting it wrong, hence resulting in a double payout, should the outcome differ to a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition.

"However, at present, we are confident in our decision."

Read: Read More: Mary Lou McDonald: Coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil 'the stuff of nightmares'

Mark Mortell, Taoiseach Enda Kenny's closest adviser said: "We're each going to have to consider the situation and we're going to have to talk to the Labour Party too."

He added: "What you've got here is an extraordinary situation. It is a massive fracturing of the political system.

"It creates immediately a huge amount of volatility and if you look just across into Europe, and what's happened in Spain and Portugal, this does mean we're going to have a very, very interesting couple of weeks ahead of us and very, very demanding ones."

Fianna Fáil frontbencher Michael McGrath said there is an onus on everyone elected to reflect on their own and their party's position "to bring about a stable government".

There is also the prospect of a minority government taking power but seasoned commentators have warned about the instability of such a loose pact.