EU count ongoing in Castlebar

No candidates have yet been elected in the Midlands North-West constituency.

With five seats up for grabs, count five was underway in Castlebar Count Centre.

This is the outlook.

Independent outgoing MEP Luke Ming Flanagan from Roscommon was at the top of the poll with 78,855 votes after the fourth count. He was followed by Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry from Meath on 74,193 votes. Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen followed very closely behind with 74,110 votes. Outgoing Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh was next best in fourth place.

The quote was a massive 113,325 - a big ask considering there were 27 candidates in the field vying for the votes.

At the time of going to print, it looked likely that the two outgoing MEPs would keep their seats.

Former RTE correspondent Ciaran Mullooly sat in fifth place on 57,809, almost 14,000 votes behind Walsh. Ciaran has strong links to the Breffni county.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew, a Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, was polling in sixth place with 46,050 votes. Longford man, James Reynolds from the National Party had been excluded; while Independent candidate Peter Casey had conceded.

The count to elect Ireland’s next MEPs began on Sunday morning.