One of Fianna Fáil's two candidates in the North West constituency for the European Parliament, Dr Jim McDaid, has conceded defeat as the party's strategy in a second European constituency looks to have backfired.
Dr Jim McDaid
Dr McDaid was pressurised into running for the seat by Fianna Fáil, resulting in a battle within the constituency between himself and Mr O Neachtain. Mr O Neachtain had been co-opted to the European Parliament after Mr Pat 'The Cope' Gallager stood down to take a junior minister's job.
No candidate was elected after the first count which saw Independent candidate Ms Marian Harkin leading with over 66,000 first preference votes. Mr Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin was just over 1,200 votes behind followed by Mr O Neachtain with 62,085.
The returning officer for the Northwest, Mr Kieran McDermott, confirmed that Independent candidates Mr Hughie Baxter with 13,000 votes and Ms Marie Hainsworth with 3,308, have both been eliminated prior to the start of the second count. Their votes are being redistributed.
Commenting earlier on his poor performance Dr McDaid said a number of factors went against him, including the fact that he did not get enough votes out of his home base of Donegal where Sinn Féin's Mr Doherty is also based.
There was strong criticism from Mr Brian Crowley - who was elected in the South constituency this evening - of the electoral strategy pursued by the party. He suggested that allocating the Fianna Fáil candidates specific regions helped the Independents, one of whom, Ms Kathy Sinnott, now looks likely to claim a seat at Fianna Fáil's expense.