European election recount in Ireland could take a month to complete

Sinn Fein candidate Liadh Ni Riada requested a recheck and recount as she was about to be eliminated on Wednesday after the 18th round of counting in the Ireland South constituency.

A recheck of Mrs Ni Riada’s votes and Green Party senator Grace O’Sullivan’s ballots was completed on Thursday morning, after which returning officer Martin Harvey confirmed that a full recount of all 755,000 votes would go ahead next week.

The counting is to commence again on Tuesday in the Cork city count centre.

Outgoing MEP Mrs Ni Riada, who unsuccessfully ran for Ireland’s presidency last year, was on the verge of becoming Sinn Fein’s second high profile casualty of the Euro poll.

Sitting MEP Lynn Boylan also lost her seat in Dublin in what is shaping up to be a disastrous election for the republican party.

“Such a close election,” party president Mary Lou McDonald tweeted in response to news of the recount.

Two people had already been elected in the constituency – Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly and Fianna Fail’s Billy Kelleher.

Independents4Change candidate Mick Wallace, Fine Gael’s Deirdre Clune and Green Party senator Grace O’Sullivan had been vying with Mrs Ni Riada for the constituency’s remaining three seats.

Ireland’s two other constituencies have concluded counting, with eight MEPs having been elected.

Independent Luke “Ming” Flanagan was returned above the quota in Midlands North West on Wednesday evening, joining Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness in booking a return trip to Brussels and Strasbourg.

Sinn Fein’s Matt Carthy, also an existing MEP, and Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh, a former Rose of Tralee, were also both elected at the Castlebar count, though under the quota.

The eventual winner of the last seat in the South constituency will be one of two “cold storage” MEPs returned by Ireland. The country has been allocated two additional European Parliament places as a result of Brexit.

As the UK is still to leave the EU, the holders of those two seats will essentially have to sit on the subs bench and will only become confirmed MEPs once Brexit happens.

Barry Andrews of Fianna Fail has already taken one of the two added seats, having finished in fourth place in the Dublin constituency count.

The Green Party’s Ciaran Cuffe, former Fine Gael tanaiste (deputy prime minister) Frances Fitzgerald and Clare Daly of Independents4Change took the first three seats in Dublin.