Midlands–North-West is a European Parliament constituency in Ireland. It elects 5 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
| Midlands–North-West | |
|---|---|
| European Parliament constituency | |
 Location among the current constituencies | |
 Midlands–North-West shown within Ireland (2014–2019, 2024– boundaries) | |
| Member state | Ireland |
| Electorate | 1,224,888 |
| Created | 2014 |
| MEPs |
|
| Sources | |
| [1] | |
History and boundaries edit
Midlands–North-West was created for the 2014 European Parliament election when Ireland's allocation of seats was reduced from 12 to 11 due to the accession of Croatia to the European Union. It followed a recommendation of a 2013 Constituency Commission report on European Parliament constituencies in Ireland. It consisted of the old North-West constituency, except for County Clare which was moved to the South constituency; as well the northern and central Leinster part of the East constituency.[1][2] The Irish Times criticised the wide geographic spread of the constituency, calling it "a heterogeneous mish-mash of counties with little historic or cultural connection to each other". It was nicknamed "Malin 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]
At the 2024 European Parliament election, Midlands–North-West increased 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]
The main urban areas of Midlands–North-West (by population size) are Galway, Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan, Newbridge, Naas, Portlaoise, Athlone, Mullingar, Letterkenny, Celbridge, Sligo, Maynooth, Leixlip, Ashbourne and Tullamore.
| 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 edit
| 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.
- ^ Carthy was elected to the 33rd Dáil and was substituted by Chris MacManus (SF/GUE/NGL) in February 2020.
- ^ McGuinness was appointed as European Commissioner and was substituted by Colm Markey (FG / EPP) in September 2020.
Elections edit
^ *: Outgoing MEP elected at the previous election.
^ †: Outgoing MEP coopted subsequent to the previous election.
2024 election edit
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| National Party | Justin Barrett | |||
| Fianna Fáil | Niall Blaney | |||
| The Irish People | Anthony Cahill | |||
| Fine Gael | Nina Carberry | |||
| Independent | Peter Casey | |||
| Fianna Fáil | Lisa Chambers | |||
| Fianna Fáil | Barry Cowen | |||
| Independent | Luke 'Ming' Flanagan[*] | |||
| Independent | Stephen Garland | |||
| Sinn Féin | Michelle Gildernew | |||
| Social Democrats | Rory Hearne | |||
| Independent | Charlotte Keenan | |||
| Irish Freedom | Hermann Kelly | |||
| Labour | Fergal Landy | |||
| Sinn Féin | Chris MacManus[†] | |||
| Ireland First | Margaret Maguire | |||
| Independent | Saoirse McHugh | |||
| Independent Ireland | Ciaran Mullooly | |||
| PBP–Solidarity | Brian O'Boyle | |||
| Green | Pauline O'Reilly | |||
| Independent | Daniel Pocock | |||
| National Party | James Reynolds | |||
| Independent | Michelle Smith | |||
| Aontú | Peadar Tóibín | |||
| Fine Gael | Maria Walsh[*] | |||
| Independent | Gerry Waters | |||
| Independent | John Waters | |||
| Quota: | ||||
2019 election edit
| 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 edit
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Independent | Luke 'Ming' Flanagan | 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 | 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%) | |||||||||||
References edit
- ^ "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.
- ^ "New Irish MEP constituencies announced". RTÉ News. 25 September 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "2014 European Parliament election – Midlands–North-West". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
- ^ "Notice of Poll". Returning Officer for County Galway. 1 May 2024.
- ^ "EU Elections Information Hub". European Movement Ireland. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
- ^ "EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Meet the Candidates". Ireland Votes. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
- ^ "European Parliament Election Results 2019" (PDF). Government of Ireland. Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.
- ^ "European Parliament Election Results 2014" (PDF). Government of Ireland. Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.