Maria Walsh tipped to retain seat in Europe

OUTGOING Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh looks likely to retain her seat in the European Parliament after this weekend’s European elections.

The Shrule native topped a recent opinion poll by the Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks which surveyed voters in the sprawling five-seat Midlands North-West constituency.

Of those who responded, 12.5 percent of voters selected Ms Walsh when asked: “Who will get your first-preference vote in Midlands-North-West?”

The poll put the first-time MEP ahead of Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who sits on 12.1 percent, Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen (10.5 percent), Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín (7.5 percent) and Sinn Féin MLA Michelle Gildernew (7.2 percent).

Ms Walsh received 107,198 votes when the then 31-year-old ran in 2019 almost five years after winning the Rose of Tralee.

The other three Mayo women in the contest, Senator Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fáil), Saoirse McHugh (Independent) and Michelle Smith (Independent) now appear unlikely to take a seat in the constituency, which spans 15 counties and has 27 candidates.

Senator Chambers, a former TD, county councillor, and long-time Fianna Fáil spokesperson, polled the second-highest of the four Mayo candidates at 5.3 percent.

Her party colleague, Donegal-based Senator Niall Blaney, polled at 2.6 percent.

Former Green Party member Saoirse McHugh, now languishing at 2.3 percent, also appears highly unlikely to repeat her impressive showing in the last European elections.

The Achill woman came seventh out of 17 candidates in the 2019 elections when she received 51,019 first-preference votes - 8.58 percent of the total poll. She subsequently failed to get elected in the 2020 Dáil and Seanad elections.

The Green Party’s only candidate in the Midlands North-West, Senator Pauline O’Reilly, polled 2.2 percent in the Sunday Independent poll.

Independent candidate Michelle Smith from The Neale trailed both Ms McHugh and Senator O’Reilly on 2.1 percent.

The sample size was 1,770 and the margin of error is +/- 2.4 percent.

The same poll saw 23 percent of respondents express support for Independents, followed by Fine Gael (22 percent), Sinn Féin (22 percent) and Fianna Fáil (17 percent).

Counting down

MEANWHILE, the election of the next Mayo County Council is once again expected to take the entire weekend.

John Condon, returning officer for the count centre in the TF Royal Theatre, Castlebar, told The Mayo News that the 73 declared candidates for Mayo County Council was the highest number in many years.

The last of the six counts in the 2019 local elections - which had 66 candidates - concluded in the early hours of Monday morning. Counting for the European elections did not conclude until the following Wednesday, five days after the polls opened on the previous Friday.

“I would expect something similar this time,” Mr Condon said.

There will be between 250-300 staff employed at the count centre at the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar, where counting in the local elections will commence on Saturday morning, June 8.

Due to the mammoth logistical task of collecting all of the 28-inch ballot papers, counting in the European elections is not expected to start until Sunday.

Voting in the local and European elections will be held on Friday, 7 June.

Polling stations will open from 7am to 10pm.

See the full list of candidates for Mayo County Council here.