Midlands–North-West (European Parliament constituency)

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Midlands–North-West
European Parliament constituency
Map of the European Parliament constituencies with Midlands–North-West highlighted in red
Location among the current constituencies
Midlands–North-West shown within Ireland (2019 borders)
Member stateIreland
Electorate1,224,888
Created2014
MEPs4 (2014–2024)
5 (2024– )
Sources
[1]

Midlands–North-West is a European Parliament constituency in Ireland. It elects four Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). At the 2024 European Parliament election, it will elect 5 MEPs.

History and boundaries

Midlands–North-West was created for the

M50" for its wide spread, from the suburbs of Dublin to the Atlantic seaboard.[3]

For the 2019 European Parliament election, a reapportionment following Brexit and the loss of 73 MEPs from the United Kingdom gave two additional seats to Ireland. Following a recommendation of the Constituency Commission, counties Laois and Offaly were moved to the South constituency, with Midlands–North-West maintaining its 4 seats.[4][5]

The constituency comprises the counties of Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath; and the city of Galway.[6]

The main urban areas of Midlands–North-West (by population size) are Galway, Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan, Newbridge, Naas, Athlone, Mullingar, Celbridge and Letterkenny.

2024

At the 2024 European Parliament election, Midlands–North-West will increase to 5 seats, with the transfer of County Laois and County Offaly from South.[7] This followed a recommendation of the Electoral Commission, where Ireland had been allocated one additional MEP. This gives the new constituency a population of 1,831,741, as of the 2022 census[8][9]

Election Area Seats
2014 Counties of Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath; and the city of Galway.[10] 4
2019 Loss of Laois and Offaly to South[6]
2024 Transfer of Laois and Offaly from South[7] 5

MEPs

2014–2019, 2024– boundaries
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for Midlands–North-West 2014–
Key to parties
Parl. Election Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
8th 2014[11] Matt Carthy
(SF)
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan
(Ind)
Marian Harkin
(Ind)
Mairead McGuinness
(FG)
9th 2019 Maria Walsh
(FG)
2020[a] Chris MacManus
(SF)
2020[b] Colm Markey
(FG)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Elections

2024 election

2024 European Parliament election: Midlands–North-West
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1
Fianna Fáil Niall Blaney[12]
Fine Gael Nina Carberry[13]
Fianna Fáil Lisa Chambers[12]
Fianna Fáil Barry Cowen[14]
Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan[15]
Sinn Féin Michelle Gildernew[16]
Social Democrats Rory Hearne[17]
Irish Freedom Hermann Kelly[18]
Sinn Féin Chris MacManus[15]
PBP–Solidarity Brian O'Boyle[19]
Green Pauline O'Reilly[20]
National Party James Reynolds[21]
Aontú Peadar Tóibín[22]
Fine Gael Maria Walsh[23]
Valid:   Quota:  

2019 election

2019 European Parliament election: Midlands–North-West[24]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Fine Gael Mairead McGuinness 22.6% 134,630                        
Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan 14.3% 85,034 86,906 87,008 87,188 87,333 87,964 88,543 90,187 91,747 94,353 97,319 112,760 121,824
Sinn Féin Matt Carthy 13.0% 77,619 78,487 78,513 78,612 78,653 79,028 79,437 81,544 82,921 83,851 84,825 91,396 98,732
Fine Gael Maria Walsh 10.8% 64,500 70,536 70,619 70,660 70,731 71,425 71,793 72,265 74,116 76,056 80,338 96,163 107,192
Independent Peter Casey 9.5% 56,650 57,848 57,892 58,034 58,212 58,602 59,635 60,769 61,616 64,690 66,565 69,923 78,362
Green Saoirse McHugh 8.6% 51,019 52,731 52,821 52,976 53,068 53,966 54,548 55,455 58,642 60,778 61,957    
Fianna Fáil Brendan Smith 7.2% 42,814 44,040 44,059 44,076 44,130 44,255 44,692 44,836 45,235 46,820 64,532 68,677  
Fianna Fáil Anne Rabbitte 5.1% 30,220 31,084 31,122 31,143 31,198 31,471 31,893 32,041 32,714 34,610      
Independent Fidelma Healy Eames 2.7% 15,991 16,468 16,515 16,621 16,764 17,590 19,312 19,694 20,410        
Labour Dominic Hannigan 2.1% 12,378 13,031 13,065 13,150 13,197 13,408 13,723 14,089          
Solidarity–PBP
Cyril Brennan 1.4% 8,130 8,226 8,246 8,337 8,365 8,553 8,699            
Renua Michael O'Dowd 1.2% 6,897 7,200 7,220 7,304 7,445 7,677              
Independent Olive O'Connor 0.5% 3,132 3,236 3,313 3,326 3,477                
Independent Dilip Mahapatra 0.4% 2,450 2,562 2,577 2,654 2,694                
Direct Democracy Patrick Greene 0.2% 1,352 1,400 1,412                    
Independent James Miller 0.2% 1,322 1,375 1,446 1,490                  
Independent Diarmuid Mulcahy 0.1% 789 811                      
Electorate: 1,224,888   Valid: 594,927   Spoilt: 21,628 (3.5%)   Quota: 118,986   Turnout: 616,555 (50.3%)  

2014 election

2014 European Parliament election: Midlands–North-West[25][11]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan[26] 19.2 124,063 129,561            
Sinn Féin Matt Carthy 17.7 114,727 117,670 120,723 124,976 126,492 127,135 135,046  
Fine Gael Mairead McGuinness 14.2 92,080 94,019 102,025 107,689 135,698      
Independent Marian Harkin 10.7 68,986 72,045 77,798 89,611 95,577 99,843 105,501 106,520
Fianna Fáil Pat "the Cope" Gallagher 9.2 59,562 60,466 62,071 65,725 67,606 68,440 102,915 106,245
Fianna Fáil Thomas Byrne 8.6 55,384 56,528 58,505 62,335 63,392 64,057    
Fine Gael Jim Higgins 6.2 39,908 40,462 43,292 45,060        
Independent Rónán Mullen 5.6 36,326 38,260 41,164          
Labour Lorraine Higgins 4.9 31,951 33,744            
Green Mark Dearey 1.5 9,520              
Direct Democracy Ben Gilroy 1.2 7,683              
Independent Mark Fitzsimons[27] 0.4 2,424              
Independent T. J. Fay 0.3 2,002              
Fís Nua Cordelia Níc Fhearraigh 0.3 1,829              
Electorate: 1,202,997   Valid: 646,445   Spoilt: 17,258 (1.4%)   Quota: 129,290   Turnout: 663,703 (55.2%)  

Footnotes

  1. GUE/NGL
    ) in February 2020.
  2. EPP
    ) in September 2020.

References

  1. ^ "Report on European Parliament Constituencies 2013" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 25 September 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  2. ^ "New Irish MEP constituencies announced". RTÉ News. 25 September 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  3. ^ McGee, Harry (3 March 2014). "Illogical constituencies to make for unpredictable Euro election". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  4. ^ Cunningham, Paul (24 September 2018). "Dublin and Ireland South to gain extra European Parliament seats". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Report on European Parliament Constituencies 2018" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 24 September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  6. ^ a b European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019, s. 7 (No. 7 of 2019, s. 7). Enacted on 12 March 2019. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 23 March 2019.
  7. ^ a b Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023, s. 5: Amendment of European Parliament Elections Act 1997 (No. 40 of 2023, s. 5). Enacted on 19 December 2023. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 22 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Review of European Parliament Constituencies Report 2023" (PDF). Electoral Commission. 20 November 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  9. ^ Burns, Sarah (20 November 2023). "Extra European Parliament seat recommended for Midlands-North West". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  10. ^ European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2014, s. 3 (No. 2 of 2014, s. 3). Enacted on 5 February 2014. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 23 March 2019.
  11. ^ a b "2014 European Parliament election – Midlands–North-West". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  12. ^ a b O'Connell, Hugh (29 February 2024). "Fianna Fáil to run two senators with Barry Cowen in shock Euro elections move". Irish Independent. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  13. ^ Doyle, Kevin (18 March 2024). "Former jockey Nina Carberry to run for Fine Gael in European elections". Irish Independent. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  14. ^ Phelan, Ciara (5 February 2024). "Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen to contest European elections in Midlands North-West". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  15. ^ a b O'Cearbhaill, Muiris (2 January 2024). "Who is standing and what can Ireland expect in the run up to European elections in June?". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  16. ^ McCambridge, Jonathan (7 February 2024). "Sinn Féin MP Gildernew to stand in European elections". Western People. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  17. ^ Hilliard, Mark (12 March 2024). "Rory Hearne to run in European elections as Social Democrat candidate". The Irish Times.
  18. ^ "European Election 2024 candidates". The Irish Freedom Party. 29 January 2024. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  19. ^ "People Before Profit select candidate for Midlands European election". Westmeath Independent. 18 January 2024. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Greens tap Cuffe, O'Sullivan and O'Reilly for European elections". Green Party. 17 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  21. ^ "'We are the mainstream': The rise of anti-immigration sentiment in new political parties". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  22. ^ Carolan, Michael (23 February 2024). "Peadar Tóibín to contest European Parliament elections". LMFM. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  23. ^ "MEP Maria Walsh eyes re-election but rules out national politics for now". Sligo Champion. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  24. Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
    .
  25. Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government
    .
  26. ^ Ó Caollaí, Éanna (21 March 2014). "Luke 'Ming' Flanagan to stand in European election". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  27. ^ "Mark launches Euro election campaign after 'whirlwind response' to cannabis stance". Dundalk Democrat. 28 January 2014. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.