2019 European Parliament election in Ireland

The 2019 European Parliament election in Ireland is the Irish component of the 2019 European Parliament election and was held on Friday, 24 May 2019, on the same day as the 2019 local elections and a referendum easing restrictions on divorce.[1] The election was conducted in three constituencies under the single transferable vote (STV). Thirteen MEPs were elected, but the last candidate elected in both Dublin and South did not take their seats until after Brexit on 31 January 2020.

2019 European Parliament election in Ireland
24 May 2019
13 Irish seats to the European Parliament
(2 of which were post-Brexit seats)
Opinion polls
Turnout49.7%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Leo Varadkar Micheál Martin Eamon Ryan
Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Green Party
Alliance EPP RE Greens/EFA
Leader since 2 June 2017 26 January 2011 27 May 2011
Last election 22.3%, 4 seats 22.3%, 1 seat 4.9%, 0 seats
Seats won
5 / 13
[nb 1]
2 / 13
[nb 2]
2 / 13
Seat change 1 2 2
Popular vote 496,459 277,705 190,755
Percentage 29.6% 16.6% 11.4%
Swing 7.3 pp 5.7 pp 6.5 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
I4C
Leader Collective leadership Mary Lou McDonald Brendan Howlin
Party Inds. 4 Change Sinn Féin Labour Party
Alliance GUE/NGL GUE/NGL S&D
Leader since n/a 10 February 2018 20 May 2016
Last election New Party 19.5%, 3 seats 5.3%, 0 seats
Seats won
2 / 13
1 / 13
0 / 13
Seat change 2 2
Popular vote 124,085 196,001 52,753
Percentage 7.4% 11.7% 3.1%
Swing n/a 7.8 pp 2.2 pp
Members of the
European Parliament
for Ireland
1st delegation (1973)
2nd delegation (1973–1977)
3rd delegation (1977–1979)
1st term (1979)
2nd term (1984)
3rd term (1989)
4th term (1994)
5th term (1999)
6th term (2004)
7th term (2009)
8th term (2014)
9th term (2019)
List of women MEPs
2019 European Parliament Ireland constituencies

Constituency changes
See also: Apportionment in the European Parliament § 2019 election

The United Kingdom invoked Article 50 to withdraw from the European Union on 29 March 2017 following the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. As Article 50 has a two-year period for withdrawal, the United Kingdom would not be part of the 2019 European Parliament election scheduled for May 2019. In July 2018, the European Council made a decision to redistribute a number of the seats from the United Kingdom to other member states. The allocation of MEPs from Ireland increased from 11 to 13; however, this change would not take effect until the United Kingdom has left the EU, which took place on 31 January 2020. As the United Kingdom was still a member of the EU at the beginning of the 2019–2024 parliamentary term, the allocation of seats will remain as it was in the previous parliament, until its withdrawal becomes legally effective.[2][3][4]

A Constituency Commission chaired by High Court judge Robert Haughton was established by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in July 2018 to redraw constituencies in line with the change in seats.[5][6] The Commission's report was published on 24 September 2018 and proposed the following changes:[7][8]

  • Dublin gains an extra seat from 3 to 4; with no boundary changes. Full electorate is 884,118, giving electorate of 221,029.5 per seat.
  • South gains an extra seat from 4 to 5, and gains counties Laois and Offaly from Midlands–North-West. Full electorate is 1,417,017, giving electorate of 283,403.4 per seat.
  • Midlands–North-West loses Laois and Offaly to South, but remains a 4 seater. Full electorate is 1,224,888, giving electorate of 306,222 per seat.

The European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019 enacted the changes recommended by the Constituency Commission.[9]

It also provided for the situation that Ireland's representation remained at 11 with an amendment to the rules, "For the purpose of the European elections held in the year 2019, the return made by the chief returning officer […] shall declare that the last candidate deemed to be elected […] in each of the constituencies of Dublin and South as specified in the Third Schedule, shall not take up their seats in the European Parliament until such time as a date has been specified by the Parliament for the taking up of such seats".[10]

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had incorrectly suggested that the votes would be counted twice in the constituencies which had an increased number of seats, to account for either contingency. However, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy later clarified that there would be only one count for each constituency, and that the final candidate to be deemed elected in Dublin and South would not take their seats until the withdrawal of the United Kingdom.[11]

Retiring incumbents

The following MEPs did not seek re-election:

Constituency Departing MEP Party EP Group First elected Date announced
Dublin Nessa Childers Independent S&D 2009 18 July 2017[12]
South Brian Crowley Independent ECR 1994 17 January 2019[13]
Dublin Brian Hayes Fine Gael EPP 2014 6 November 2018[14]
Midlands–North-West Marian Harkin Independent ALDE 2004 1 April 2019[15]

Candidates

Nominations closed at midday on 15 April 2019, with 59 candidates in total: 19 in Dublin (4 seats), 17 in Midlands–North-West (4 seats) and 23 in South (5 seats).[16]

European alliances
Party/Independent candidate Euro party EP group[17]
Fine Gael EPP EPP
Fianna Fáil ALDE RE
Sinn Féin GUE/NGL
Green Party Green Greens/EFA
Inds. 4 Change GUE/NGL
Labour Party PES S&D
Solidarity–PBP EACL
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan GUE/NGL

Independents 4 Change was not affiliated to a parliamentary group at the time of the election, but joined European United Left–Nordic Green Left group.[18]

Results
2019 Election to the European Parliament in Ireland
Party Euro party Euro group Party Leader Votes % +/– Seats +/– Brexit seats
Fine Gael EPP EPP Leo Varadkar 496,459 29.6 +7.3
5 / 13
 1 +1
Fianna Fáil ALDE RE Micheál Martin 277,705 16.6 –5.7
2 / 13
 1 +1
Green Party Green Greens/EFA Eamon Ryan 190,755 11.4 +6.5
2 / 13
 2
Inds. 4 Change None GUE/NGL Collective leadership 124,085 7.4 new
2 / 13
 2
Sinn Féin None GUE/NGL Mary Lou McDonald 196,001 11.7 –7.8
1 / 13
 2
Labour Party PES S&D Brendan Howlin 52,753 3.1 –2.2
0 / 13
Solidarity–PBP EACL GUE/NGL Collective leadership 38,771 2.3 –1.0
0 / 13
Social Democrats None None Catherine Murphy
Róisín Shortall		 20,331 1.2 new
0 / 13
Renua None None John Leahy 6,897 0.4 new
0 / 13
Workers' Party INITIATIVE None Michael Donnelly 3,701 0.2 new
0 / 13
Identity Ireland None None Peter O'Loughlin 3,685 0.2 new
0 / 13
Direct Democracy None None Pat Greene 2,773 0.2 –1.3
0 / 13
Independent 264,087 15.7 –4.1
1 / 13
 2
Valid votes 1,678,003 95.8
Blank and invalid votes 73,870 4.2
Totals 1,751,873 100.0
13 / 13
 +2
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 3,526,023 49.7 –2.7
Source: RTÉ News

MEPs elected
Constituency Name Party EP group
Midlands–North-West[19] Mairead McGuinness Fine Gael EPP
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan Independent GUE/NGL
Matt Carthy Sinn Féin GUE/NGL
Maria Walsh Fine Gael EPP
Dublin[20] Ciarán Cuffe Green Party Greens/EFA
Frances Fitzgerald Fine Gael EPP
Clare Daly Inds. 4 Change GUE/NGL
Barry Andrews Fianna Fáil RE
South Seán Kelly Fine Gael EPP
Billy Kelleher Fianna Fáil RE
Mick Wallace Inds. 4 Change GUE/NGL
Grace O'Sullivan Green Party Greens/EFA
Deirdre Clune Fine Gael EPP

Opinion polls

Party opinion polling

Nationwide
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Constituency Sample
size		 FG FF SF Lab GP S–PBP SD RI IA O/I[nb 3]
17 April 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[21] Dublin, Midlands-North-West, South 1,000 33 21 16 4 4 0 1 0 2 21[nb 4]

Dublin
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Sample
size		 FG SF FF GP I4C S–PBP Lab SD O/I
16 May 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[22] 553 25 13 12 11 9 7 5 4 15[nb 4]
10 May 2019 Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times[23] 500 29 13 18 9 10 6 8 1 6[nb 4]

Midlands-North-West
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Sample
size		 FG FF SF GP Lab O/I
16 May 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[24] 646 37 15 14 4 3 27[nb 4]
10 May 2019 Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times[23] 500 37 13 14 3 2 31[nb 4]

South
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Sample
size		 FG FF SF I4C GP Lab S-PBP O/I
16 May 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[25] 825 30 23 15 8 8 3 3 10[nb 4]
10 May 2019 Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times[23] 500 37 23 14 8 5 5 1 6[nb 4]

Candidate polling

Dublin
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Sample
size		 Fitzgerald (FG) Boylan (SF) Andrews (FF) Cuffe (GP) Daly (I4C) Durkan (FG) White (Lab) Harrold (S–PBP) Gannon (SD) Brien (S–PBP) Higgins (Ind) O/I
16 May 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[22] 553 17 13 12 11 9 8 5 4 4 3 2 13[nb 4]
10 May 2019 Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times[23] 500 22 13 18 9 10 7 8 3 1 3 2 4[nb 4]

Midlands-North-West
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Sample
size		 McGuinness (FG) Carthy (SF) Flanagan (Ind) Walsh (FG) Casey (Ind) Smith (FF) Rabbitte (FF) McHugh (GP) Hannigan (Lab) O'Dowd (RI) O/I
16 May 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[24] 646 27 14 12 10 10 9 6 4 3 2 3[nb 4]
10 May 2019 Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times[23] 500 26 14 16 11 9 8 5 3 2 1 4[nb 4]

South
Last date
of polling		 Polling firm / Commissioner Sample
size		 Kelly (FG) Ní Riada (SF) Kelleher (FF) Byrne (FF) Wallace (I4C) O'Sullivan (GP) Clune (FG) Doyle (FG) Nunan (Lab) Wallace (S-PBP) O/I
16 May 2019 Red C/The Sunday Business Post[25] 825 17 15 13 10 8 8 7 6 3 3 10[nb 4]
10 May 2019 Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times[23] 500 18 14 13 10 8 5 10 9 5 1 7[nb 4]
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See also

Footnotes
  1. When the United Kingdom left the European Union and the seats in the European Parliament were redistributed, Fine Gael/EPP Group gained an additional seat in the South constituency.
  2. When the United Kingdom left the European Union and the seats in the European Parliament were redistributed, Fianna Fáil/Renew Europe gained an additional seat in the Dublin constituency.
  3. This column includes figures for Independents 4 Change and Aontú when available.
  4. A figure for 'Others/Independents' is not mentioned in the cited source, but has been calculated by subtracting the other parties from 100%, so the figure shown may be slightly inaccurate due to rounding effects.

References
  1. "Polling Day Orders made for European and local elections". Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  2. European Council Decision (EU) 2018/937 of 28 June 2018 establishing the composition of the European Parliament
  3. "Number of Irish MEPs set to increase post-Brexit". RTÉ News. 7 February 2018.
  4. "Ireland set to gain two extra EU parliament seats after Brexit". RTÉ News. 12 June 2018.
  5. "S.I. No. 279/2018 - European Parliament Constituency Committee (Establishment) Order 2018". Irish Statute Book. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  6. Therese, Molloy Marie. "Minister Murphy establishes Constituency Committee to review European Parliament constituencies". merrionstreet.ie. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  7. "Report on European Parliament Constituencies 2018" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  8. "Dublin and Ireland South to gain extra European Parliament seats". RTÉ News. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  9. "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019, Substitution of Third Schedule to Principal Act". Irish Statute Book. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  10. "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019, Section 6". Irish Statute Book. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  11. McMorrow, Conor (18 April 2019). "No 'double counts' after European elections - Murphy". RTÉ. Retrieved 19 April 2019.; "Questions on Promised Legislation". Dáil Éireann (32nd Dáil) debates. Oireachtas. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  12. "Childers will not seek re-election as MEP in 2019". RTÉ News. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  13. "Veteran MEP Brian Crowley confirms he won't be contesting European Election". TheJournal.ie. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  14. "Brian Hayes to leave politics to take up banking industry role". The Irish Times. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  15. "Marian Harkin not to contest European Parliament elections". The Irish Times. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  16. Brynmor Pattison (15 April 2019). "European Parliament elections 2019: Full list of Ireland candidates as 59 declare battle for 13 seats in three constituencies". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 28 April 2019. Here are the choices for your Irish MEPs in the EU
  17. "Publications". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  18. "MEPs Advanced Search". European Parliament. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  19. "Flanagan, Walsh, Carthy elected in Midlands-North-West". RTÉ News. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  20. "Daly, Andrews take final Dublin seats in Euro Elections". RTÉ News. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  21. "RED C European Election Poll" (PDF). RED C Research. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  22. O'Connell, Hugh (2019-05-19). "RedC/SBP #EP2019 Dublin Poll". @oconnellhugh. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  23. "Ipsos MRBI/The Irish Times European Election Poll". Ipsos MRBI. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  24. O'Connell, Hugh (2019-05-19). "RedC/SBP #EP2019 MNW Poll". @oconnellhugh. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  25. O'Connell, Hugh (2019-05-19). "RedC/SBP". @oconnellhugh. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
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