Final European seats in Dublin up for grabs
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Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are set to retain European seats in the Dublin constituency. However, it could be a fight for the final two seats.
As counting got underway in the European elections on Sunday morning, Barry Andrews was on track to retain his seat after a strong performance.
By Sunday evening, Fine Gael candidate Regina Doherty also appeared to be on track to take a seat. She had been selected to represent the party after Frances Fitzgerald announced she would not be standing again.
Initial tallies put Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews in place to top the poll.
Arriving at the count centre in the RDS, Labour candidate Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said he is “not surprised” by the level of support he has received, which now puts him in contention to take an EU seat in Dublin.
However, a number of candidates, including Mr Ó Ríordáin, Independent Ireland hopeful Niall Boylan, Bríd Smith of People Before Profit, and outgoing MEPs Ciarán Cuffe of the Green Party and Independents 4 Change representative Clare Daly will all be in the running for one of four seats.
Arriving at the count centre, Mr Ó Ríordáin said: “It has been a very long and tiring, exhausting — but paradoxically a kind of energising — campaign. We’re feeding good, we have had a good day.”
Asked about his own performance, he said: “We are not surprised really because the reception we were getting around the county was very positive and people were connecting me with issues that they felt strongly about, from drugs, education, to football, to various different reasons as to why people were wanting to chat to me about our campaign, and we tried to be positive. It wasn’t an anti-government campaign.”
Meanwhile, outspoken radio host Niall Boylan has said he is “confident but nervous” of taking either the third or fourth seat in Dublin.
Mr Boylan ran for Independent Ireland, which has polled strongly in many local election areas nationwide. Mr Boylan said:
“I’m not politically correct, I never have been and I’ve said this to people that, if I go to Europe, for example, I may not be able to do anything directly about healthcare in Ireland because it’s a national issue, but I’ll embarrass the Irish government because I’m a loudmouth.”
Those involved in the campaign for Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan were also quietly confident. However, those in Sinn Féin said it could depend on when fellow party candidate Dáithí Doolan is eliminated as, if this comes too late in the race, she may have been already surpassed by others.
Also speaking in the count centre, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he was confident that Mr Cuffe was “still in the mix” in Dublin.
“I think there’ll be about four or five people in running for the last seat. I think Ciarán is going to be one of them. So fingers crossed and here’s hoping he keeps ahead of the pack as he said himself.”