Battle ahead as Dublin's European constituency looks too close to call after first count

FF and FG look set to take two of the four seats – but the other two are still up in the air.

FIANNA FÁIL AND Fine Gael look set to bring home two of the European Parliament seats in Dublin after the first count on Sunday night showed their candidates with a significant lead over all the others.

Barry Andrews (FF) topped the poll with 62,147 votes, closely followed by Regina Doherty (FG) with 61,344. The quota is 75,345.

However there looks likely to be a dogfight for the final two MEP positions in the constituency, with four candidates jostling for a seat.

There are just several thousand votes separating Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin (35,431), Ciarán Cuffe of the Green Party (32,204), Labour’s Aodhán Ó Riordáin (30,733) and Niall Boylan of Independent Ireland (30,637).

Current MEP Clare Daly is in 7th place after the first count with 26,855 votes, followed by Brid Smith (21,577).

There had been 23 candidates running in the Dublin constituency – a record, but still slightly lower than the numbers running in the two other European constituencies, Ireland South and Midlands-Norht West.

The count at Dublin’s RDS has adjourned for the night and will resume on Monday morning when the lowest-polling candidate will be eliminated and his votes distributed.

First count:

Barry Andrews (FF) – 62,147
Regina Doherty (FG) – 61,344
Lynn Boylan (SF) – 35,431
Ciarán Cuffe (GP) – 32,204
Aodhán Ó Riordáin (Lab) – 30,733
Niall Boylan (II) – 30,637
Clare Daly (I4C) – 26,855
Bríd Smith (PBP-S) – 21,577
Sinead Gibney (SD) – 16,319
Daithí Doolin (SF) – 10,766
Aisling Considine (AON) – 10,693
Malachy Steenson (I) – 7,128
Umar Al-Qadri (I) – 4,707
Philip Dwyer (IFP) – 4,479
Diarmaid O Conaráin (I) – 3,548
Brendan Ogle (I) – 3,148
Rebecca Barrett (I) – 2,997
Patrick Quinlan (I) – 2,595
Robin Cafolla (RG) – 2,514
Stephen O’Rourke (I) – 2,250
Andy Heasman (IP) – 2,028
Eamonn Murphy (I) – 1,557
Conor Murphy (I) – 1,065

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This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.

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Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan at the announcement of the first count on Sunday night Alamy Stock Photo

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