Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew admitted that the party would probably not return an MEP from Midlands-North-West in the European election as counting of ballots in the five-seat constituency continued on Tuesday.
After eight counts at the constituency count centre in the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar, Co Mayo, incumbent independent MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan was leading the poll on 80,484 votes, followed by Nina Carberry (Fine Gael) on 74,955 votes, Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil) on 74,488 votes, Maria Walsh (Fine Gael) 72,174 votes and Ciaran Mullooly (Independent Ireland) on 58,802 votes.
Ms Gildernew, on 46,826 votes after eight counts, admitted that she would probably not catch her closest rival for the constituency’s fifth and final seat, Mr Mullooly. Her running mate, incumbent MEP Chris MacManus, was further behind again on 30,212.
“We’re probably resigned to the fact at this stage that we won’t win the fifth seat,” said Ms Gildernew, speaking to reporters at the count centre. “We didn’t get the result we wanted, we’re still in the mix, but I’m probably not overly optimistic I can overtake Ciaran Mullooly at this stage. I think he’s probably going to scrape in with the last seat. That’s just the nature of elections.”
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Fianna Fáil’s Niall Blaney, on 31,281 votes after eight counts, said that his chances of election were “extremely unlikely”.
Mr Blaney admitted that had Fianna Fáil run two candidates in Midlands-North-West, it’s a “possibility” both might have been elected. Lisa Chambers, the third Fianna Fáil candidate alongside Mr Blaney and Mr Cowen, was on 44,753 votes after eight counts.
During the European campaign trail, Mr Blaney engaged in a public spat with his party leader Tánaiste Micheál Martin at a press conference, stating that he was not receiving the same support from his party as his running mates.
Mr Blaney on Tuesday would not be drawn further on this view, stating that he was “not a man that holds grudges”.
“It is what it is now... I say what I what to say when I need to say it, and I done that,” he said.
The counting of ballots in Castlebar was expected to continue until later in the week. On Tuesday evening, after eight counts, nine of the 27 candidates had been excluded from the count, their votes distributed among other candidates.
Separately, Pearse Doherty, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on finance and deputy leader in the Dáil, said in Castlebar that despite a disappointing showing for the party in the local elections, there were “no questions” over Mary Lou McDonald’s leadership of the party.
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