Complex sentence: Fully half of the members of the 30th Dáil were absent from the 31st: 39 members retired before the poll and a further 45 sitting TDs lost their seats in the election itself.
Split into simpler sentences: Fully half of the members of the 30th Dáil were absent from the 31st. Thirty-nine members retired before the poll and a further 45 sitting TDs lost their seats in the election itself.