EUROPEAN ELECTIONS:NOMINATIONS CLOSE today for the European Parliament elections on June 5th.
More than 500 million in 27 countries will be entitled to vote.
Ireland's representation in the parliament will be reduced by one seat from 13 to 12. The Dublin constituency has been cut from a four-seater to a three-seater.
There have also been boundary revisions since the last elections, with Longford and Westmeath becoming part of the North West constituency.
In the capital, Fianna Fáil's outgoing MEP Eoin Ryan is running alongside the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eibhlin Byrne, while Fine Gael's outgoing MEP Gay Mitchell is the only candidate for Fine Gael in the constituency.
Labour's outgoing MEP, Proinsias De Rossa, is also running again. So, too, is Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, guaranteeing at least one high-profile casualty in the count on June 6th.
Socialist Party leader and former TD Joe Higgins has put his name forward, as has former Green MEP Patricia McKenna, who finally parted company last week with the party. Libertas has put forward solicitor Caroline Simons. The Green Party is running Senator Deirdre de Burca.
The South constituency includes all of the Munster counties, bar Clare. Sitting MEPs running are Fine Gael's Colm Burke, who took over from Simon Coveney when he was elected to the Dáil, Fianna Fáil's Brian Crowley and Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott.
Former GAA president Seán Kelly is Fine Gael's second candidate, while Fianna Fáil is running Cork East TD Ned O'Keeffe. Labour's candidate is Senator Alan Kelly from North Tipperary.
Councillor Toireasa Ferris, daughter of Sinn Féin Kerry TD Martin Ferris, has been nominated by Sinn Féin, while the Green Party's Cork-based Senator Dan Boyle is also going forward.
Dr Alexander Stafford, a consultant radiologist based in Limerick, has also stated he will run as an Independent candidate, while Libertas has not fielded a candidate in the constituency.
In the East constituency, made up of all the Leinster counties except Dublin, Longford and Westmeath, Fianna Fáil has finally added Meath TD Thomas Byrne to run with outgoing MEP Liam Aylward.
Fine Gael won a memorable victory here in 2004 when Avril Doyle and Mairéad McGuinness secured seats. Senator John Paul Phelan from Carlow-Kilkenny is running in place of Ms Doyle this time.
Labour is running Nessa Childers, the daughter of late president Erskine Childers, while Libertas has put forward former Irish Farmers' Association deputy president Raymond O'Malley.
Sinn Féin has nominated two candidates, Louth-based councillor Tomas Sharkey and the 27-year-old former Carlow-Kilkenny general election candidate Kathleen Funchion.
The North West constituency, meanwhile, includes all of the counties of Connacht, along with Clare, Longford and Westmeath and the three Ulster counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan.
Former Fianna Fáil senator Paschal Mooney is so far his party's only candidate in the race, but he is expected to be joined this morning by Donegal South West and former minister of state and MEP Pat "The Cope" Gallagher.
Mr Mooney was selected to run along with outgoing MEP Seán Ó Neachtain, but the latter withdrew two weeks after his nomination, claiming that he had been advised by his doctors to do so.
Fine Gael's election team is outgoing MEP Jim Higgins from Mayo, and Senator Joe O'Reilly, from Cavan-Monaghan, who was unsuccessful in the 2007 general election, even though he received more than 9,000 votes.
Libertas founder Declan Ganley, who lives near Tuam, is already running a high-profile campaign in the constituency. Outgoing MEP Marian Harkin from Sligo is also running again.
Former TV investigative reporter Susan O'Keeffe, also based in Sligo, is running for the Labour Party, while for Sinn Féin Cllr Pádraig MacLochlainn, based in Donegal North East, is also in the race.
Independents Fiachra Ó Luain and Michael McNamara have also announced their candidacies.
Every Irish citizen and every EU citizen resident in Ireland over 18 and registered to vote is entitled to vote in the European elections. Irish citizens living in other EU member states enjoy similar privileges.
People will have until 15 working days before the election to add their names to the supplementary register if they have not been registered up to now, or if they have moved house since the last election.
