Counting in the European Parliament election is now complete, as the last of Ireland’s 14 seats were filled in the small hours of this morning (Friday, June 14).
The Midlands–North-West constituency was the last constituency to complete counting, with the five seats being confirmed after 3:00a.m.
Luke Ming Flanagan had already been elected after reaching the quota yesterday afternoon (Thursday, June 13) with a surplus of 5,400. At the same time, Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers was excluded, as any potential transfers from Flanagan would not have kept her in the race.
The distribution of Chambers’ votes at the subsequent count propelled her Fianna Fáil colleague Barry Cowen past Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh and Nina Carberry, and over the quota, with a surplus of just over 2,500 votes.
The following distribution of surplus votes did nothing to change the running order of the remaining candidates, and so with three of the five seats remaining to be filled but only four candidates remaining, the three candidates with the most votes at the final count – Walsh and Carberry, as will as Ciaran Mullooly – were elected without reaching the quota.
In Ireland South, Fine Gael’s Seán Kelly had to wait a while to find out who would be joining him in the European Parliament after he was elected on the first count on Monday (June 10).
Yesterday evening Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fáil joined Kelly. The following count saw the Green Party’s Grace O’Sullivan excluded, and Independents 4 Change sitting MEP Mick Wallace was unable to pick up enough of her transfers to retain his seat.
This left three candidates to fill three seats, who were each elected without reaching the quota. These were Michael McNamara (independent) Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (Fianna Fáil) and Kathleen Funchion (Sinn Féin).
Counting in the Dublin constituency ended earlier in the week. The European Parliament election for 2024 have resulted in Ireland electing the following MEPs:
- Dublin:
- Regina Doherty (Fine Gael);
- Barry Andrews (Fianna Fáil);
- Lynn Boylan (Sinn Féin);
- Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour);
- Ireland Midlands–North-West:
- Luke Ming Flanagan (independent);
- Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil);
- Maria Walsh (Fine Gael);
- Nina Carberry (Fine Gael);
- Ciaran Mullooly (Independent Ireland);
- Ireland South:
- Seán Kelly (Fine Gael);
- Billy Kelleher (Fianna Fáil);
- Michael McNamara (independent);
- Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (Fianna Fáil);
- Kathleen Funchion (Sinn Féin).