GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE Saoirse McHugh has been eliminated from the European elections in the Midlands North West constituency.
McHugh, who rose to prominence after performing well in an RTÉ debate last week, was eliminated in the early hours of this morning on the 14th count.
Born in the US, she moved to her father’s native village of Doogah on Achill Island off the coast of Mayo at a young age.
According to her biography details on her website, the 28-year-old is an environmentalist and a grower with a background in sustainable agriculture and food security.
McHugh previously said that she had “never imagined” getting into politics and that she came to run for the Greens in “quite a roundabout way”.
“I had been badgering lots of different politicians about food production, climate action and biodiversity loss when it was suggested to me that I put myself forward for the European elections,” she told Mayo News.
She didn’t feature in an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll from 10 May, with the pollsters dividing the four seats between six potential winners, none of whom were her.
However, RTÉ/TG4′s exit poll on Friday put her in the running for a seat in the hard-fought constituency following her performance on Tuesday’s debate.
Her elimination means that she will not join her party colleague Ciarán Cuffe in taking a seat at the European Parliament, following his election in Dublin earlier on Tuesday.
Counting in Midlands North West is set to resume later today, when the five remaining candidates will battle out for three seats.
They include independent candidate Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh, Fianna Fáil’s Brendan Smith and independent Peter Casey.
Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness has already taken the first seat in the consituency.
Final results from the count are expected to be announced this evening.
With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald.
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