All Irish MEPs elected after days of counting

The final Irish seats for the European Parliament have been filled, with the conclusion of the count in the Midlands-North-West constituency.

Five candidates were elected following a five-day count, which concluded at 3.10am in Castlebar, Co Mayo.

The election of Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan on the 20th count last night was followed by that of Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen, just after 1.30am.

Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry and Maria Walsh, along with Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly were subsequently all deemed elected, without reaching the quota, after the distribution of Mr Flanagan’s surplus failed to change the standings of the final four candidates in the race for the last three seats.

Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew missed out by almost 5,500 votes, as her party lost the seat it had held here since 2014.

The Taoiseach, Simon Harris, and the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, both travelled to Co Mayo, as the final stages of the count played out.

Mr Harris said he was ecstatic at his party’s success, while Mr Martin played down suggestions that Fianna Fáil’s three candidate strategy had hampered its chances of taking a second seat in the constituency.

Final seats filled in Ireland South constituency

Independent Michael McNamara, Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion and Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú have taken the final three seats in the Ireland South constituency.

Independents4Change MEP Mick Wallace lost his seat as he was the sixth and lowest-placed candidate after the 20th count in the five-seat constituency.

Read more:
Latest election 2024 headlines
Live results from your area

They will join Fine Gael’s Seán Kelly and Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher as MEPs for Ireland South.

The final count was the distribution of the Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan’s votes.

In a statement, she said serving as an MEP was “the honour of my life” and that losing her seat was “just the latest chapter in a long story”.

Additional reporting: Paschal Sheehy