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LAST UPDATE | 27 May 2019
WITH THE DIVORCE referendum, the directly elected mayor plebiscites declared, and with less than 50 local authority positions left to be filled, attention is turning to the European election results – where so far, we have just one of 11 seats filled.
There are two ‘sideline’ (dubbed ‘zombie’ or ‘cold storage’ seats by some) MEP seats that also need to be filled in the event that the UK does actually leave the EU at some point.
We’ll also be bringing you results from the European elections in other EU member states, with a special focus on Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as all the best analysis and reaction to the new state of play on the political field.
Stay tuned…
A quick recap:
And as for election results in the UK…
All candidates eliminated so far in the Dublin European election will not be able to be reimbursed for election expenses.
The returning officer said that Gemma O’Doherty’s votes, who was just eliminated, may be important for the next candidate to be eliminated to ensure their election expenses can be recouped.
In the North, Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson topped the poll with over 126,000 votes, but the DUP’s Diane Dodds was the first to be elected in the region after reaching the quota of 143,112 on the third count.
A fun timeline of what a round of counting looks like, from reporter Nicky Ryan in the RDS:
As the final seats in local authorities are filled, the battles are more intense. Here’s the incredible situation in Westside for Galway City Council seats.
Politico have a useful analysis of the results of each European election result country-by-country. Here’s what it says about Ireland’s results, which mentions #swinggate…
“The big story in Ireland is the advance of the Green Party, which turned around a political decimation in 2011 to top the poll in the Dublin constituency in the EU election. Counting was still underway to allocate Ireland’s 11 MEP seats as of Monday midday, slowed by the sheer number of votes that had to be tallied following simultaneous local elections, European elections, a referendum on liberalizing divorce laws and votes on directly elected city mayors.
“Initial results show Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s center-right Fine Gael party has won the most first-preference votes in the European vote with 21%, followed by the Green Party on 18%, the centre-right opposition Fianna Fáil on 14% and the left-wing Sinn Féin on 11%.
“Yet Varadkar had a lackluster election overall with his party disappointing in local elections and the vote overshadowed by a scandal over a personal injury claim of a Fine Gael lawmaker who fell off a swing. Rivals Fianna Fáil were on course to solidify their lead in local councils, while Greens saw historic gains, making advances into rural communities previously viewed as inhospitable for the party and coming within reach of gaining an unprecedented three MEPs.”
A little bit of background into those who count votes on election day #grateful.
Almost all the results in the UK European election are in – with just two seats in Northern Ireland left to be confirmed (these are almost certain to be filled by poll-topper Martina Anderson of Sinn Féin, and Alliance Party’s Naomi Long).
Here’s the BBC’s map of what’s to be the final result in Great Britain. Devastating for the Tory Party.
We’re at COUNT TEN and we still don’t have a candidate elected (here’s looking at you, exit poll…)
It’s looking like Ciarán Cuffe won’t be officially elected tonight, depending on how long the count goes on for…
As it stands, it’s to end at 10pm – spare a thought for our reporters stationed there, Christina Finn and Nicky Ryan *pray emoji*
And we’re definitely into Tuesday for local election counts.
Counting will resume in the Bray East local electoral area tomorrow at 10am.
There are 38 local council seats left to fill.
Hayley here now. I’ll be keeping you up to date on the latest updates for the next while.
Here’s what’s trending in Ireland at the minute.
More of a focus on football than politics as we move into the evening, it seems.
We’ve just gotten the 11th count in Dublin for #EP2019.
Here’s where we stand now:
Here’s a breakdown:
Another councillor has been elected – Social Democrats’ Chris Pender to Kildare County Council.
Fine Gael’s Tracey O’Dwyer has also just secured a seat on Kildare County Council.
Looking to Northern Ireland, the leader of the Alliance party and MEP candidate Naomi Long, who looks set to win a seat has said her success was evidence of a desire for a people’s vote on Brexit.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Long said Westminister should take heed of the lines on which people are casting their vote in Northern Ireland as well as Scotland and Wales.
“It is very clearly a re-assertion of fact that people of Northern Ireland want to remain as part of the EU,” she said
“I think it is an endorsement of the fact that we have argued very strongly for a people’s vote.
“I would argue very strongly that [Westminister] should be listening to the results of these elections and listening very strongly to what the people have said.”
She also said that Northern Irish voters were moving away from Nationalist and Unionist “trenches” and instead are “voting on the issues”.
Here’s an update following count three for Longford County Council’s Granard area:
And here’s the current state of play after count seven for the Longford area:
Here’s the state of play in percentages after count 11 in Dublin, after Gillian O’Brien was eliminated. Her votes will now be distributed. Still no seat filled.
Some news from Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson and Alliance leader Naomi Long have been elected to the European Parliament.
More councillors.
The first two councillor’s have been elected to Longford’s Ballymahon area – Independent Mark Casey and Fine Gael’s Paul Ross.
Labour’s Noel Tuohy has also been elected to the Portlaoise area of Laois.
Here’s a bit of an update on the situation down in Bray, Wicklow:
All local election first preferences votes have now been counted.
Here’s where all the parties stand:
Gráinne here again, back taking the reins of the Liveblog, and with some results…
We finally have the European election result from Ireland South:
Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly is just over a thousand votes off being re-elected, with 118,444 first preference votes. The quota is 119,866.
Meanwhile, we’re on the 12th count in Dublin and still no one has reached the quota (72,790). Ciarán Cuffe is on 71,255 votes.
The votes of Fine Gael’s Mark Durcan is being distributed now.
You can examine the first count in more detail here
It would be nice if one MEP from all EU constituencies were elected tonight. But there is an ounce of doubt that we could be kept waiting.
Lucky Number 13 and all of that…
In the Midlands NorthWest, Mairéad McGuinness’ surplus is distributed but no one has yet reached the quota. Things look good for Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Matt Carthy, and Maria Walsh.
If that’s the final result, three out of the four candidates are incumbent MEPs, with Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh being the new kid on the EU bloc.
A crowd is gathering around the rostrum in the Dublin count centre, as Count 13 is iminent. Cuffe would have to be extremely unlucky not to get over the line this time around.
He seems relaxed enough about his prospects.
And it’s official.
Some photos of the celebrations in the RDS tonight.
Quote of the night:
“We’ve seen a big swing over the weekend – well, we’ve seen many swings over the weekend, and swings can be dangerous things…”
*Cue laughter, before Cuffe gets serious again:
“Particularly for smaller parties because the tide can come in and go out again. But I do think this is a generational shift… There are people who want to see change happening.”
Here’s another happy moment and a local election first: Ireland’s first black female councillor.
An interesting side-note to the election madness: Eileen Paisley – wife of the late Ian Paisley, founder of the DUP – is comfortable with a united Ireland and says partition was “the wrong division”.
She also told the Belfast Telegraph that she was “aggrieved” that 90 MLAs were still taking a salary and it was not fair on civil servants to be doing the job of elected representatives.
“It is abominable for people to take money for nothing,” she added, “they are not doing the job they were elected to do.”
Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews, meanwhile has said that Sinn Féin’s #le2019 loss has been Fianna Fáil’s gain – but adds that his party needs to rebuild trust.
Former Tánaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is expected to be elected on this count – she’s just 344 votes off the quota.
Here’s how things stand – Gary Gannon has been eliminated and Lynn Boylan looks almost certain to lose her MEP seat.
More details available of that Count 14 here.
The newly elected Frances Fitzgerald told RTÉ’s The Late Debate that she had seen “a strong vote here” and a strong vote in the Europeans.
She said that this was because of the leadership Fine Gael had shown in Europe.
On the Maurice McCabe-whistleblower controversy over which Fitzgerald was forced to resign as Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, she said: “Yes people had comments to make on that episode, but that’s in the past.”
On the parties losses in the local elections, Fitzgerald said that the swing towards the Greens has impacted on their votes. “We’ve a lot of very good wins, we’ve a lot of new people and women elected.”
“It’s important to be visionary and try to win as many seats as possible – I think we were optimistic about a greater number but we are the largest party across Dublin local councils.”
And of course, on Maria Bailey’s #swinggate.
“It’s always easier to say what should or shouldn’t have been done after the event…
“I’ve been very caught up in the count today,” she said.
There’s a technical argument here over the final seat.
A reminder: There are just three seats available here, with an extra seat if/when the UK leaves the EU (Ireland South is the other area that gets an extra seat).
If the quota isn’t reached after Gary Gannon’s votes are distributed, does:
Here’s why this is important – whichever approach could decide the final MEP seat.
Here’s a bit more about those two ‘zombie’/'cold storage’ MEP seats:
“As it stands now, the Irish government has insisted that there will be 13 MEPs, and is planning for as much. Similar to their policy for preparations for a hard border in Ireland in the event of a no-deal, it seems that it’s easier to deal with the probably and come to the worst case scenario if it happens.
“But the Irish government have also said that its two new MEP seats won’t be taken up until the UK leaves – which could take up to a year – which would mean Ireland has elected 13 MEPs, but only 11 take up their seats until the UK leaves the EU.
“But the Irish government have also said that its two new MEP seats won’t be taken up until the UK leaves – which could take up to a year – which would mean Ireland has elected 13 MEPs, but only 11 have taken up their seats until the UK leaves the EU.”
Ciarán Cuffe is on the Claire Byrne Show, and says he’s “shattered”.
“We have to get way beyond the keep-cups,” Cuffe says.
“This election for me was the climate change election.”
Not a very enjoyable debate for Lynn Boylan. The two candidates who are fighting for the last MEP seat in Dublin, and are trying to use her votes – by including or excluding them – to secure a seat for themselves.
There’s still no white smoke over how the count in Dublin should proceed.
This seems to be the general consensus – the Returning Officer’s hands are tied because of the details given in electoral law. A barrister on Twitter has said that “there’s nothing to it… it’s all in the Act”.
Clare Daly has spoken to reporters about what is going on. When asked what’s happening next, she says “I haven’t a clue” and that the issue arose when “Fianna Fáil swooped in here”.
“I would like the outcome of the election to reflect the way in which the voters of Dublin voted,” Daly tells reporters, adding that she’d be happy to take either seat.
To stress: one seat is a full-time seat that needs to be taken up on 2 July, the other is the ‘cold-storage’ seat that only comes into effect once the UK officially leaves the EU.
Daly herself admits the recipient may never get that seat.
Here’s more detail on that legal debacle in our piece on it here:
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Changing response time targets will not save lives. Major investment is needed and the number of frontline ambulances across the country needs to triple at least to cover current service needs and plan for future increases. Closing local A&e only means longer journey times reducing the amount available for calls.
It’s that simple to fix!
They are a very decent bunch of lads but are let down down by a lot of logistical issues not of their own making. For instance the last time I went with a relative to a major Dublin hospital they were left waiting in A&E for nearly an hour because they couldnt get their trolly back or take an equivalent one from A&E. My 10 year old could come up with a better solution. These kind of basic mis management of resources must be common place.
While I have the utmost respect for the ambulance staff, those response times are a load of cobblers. My father had a stroke last November and we were waiting nearly 50 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Bear in mind that he lives in Finglas and not down the country. After waiting 20 minutes we rang back to be told “nothing we can do, do you want us to send a fire brigade or something” when the ambulance finally arrived they said the had to come from James’ hosp as they were the only crew available. None at either Cappagh, Beaumont, Blanchardstown or the Mater hosp that could attend. The service is a shambles and it’s about time we had a dedicated national service not just using the Dublin Fire Brigade all the time.
Your right Robbie, although the ambulance service became the National Ambulance Service in 2005. It’s currently nationalising the control room, but it being nationalised seems to equated somewhere that we need less vehicles
It’s like most things in this country, big talk with tribunals and such and very little action. I guess I was referring to the Dublin area as I have a few friends in the fire brigade, and they are constantly being rotated on to the ambulance service. I don’t see why we are depriving the fire brigade of staff to supplement the ambulance service. Again I have no notion of how the rest of the country fares, but your right with the pointlessness of the national control room. I don’t see how someone in athlone (for argument sake) could judge the best dispatch location for an ambulance in counties hundreds if kilometres away
Robbie you may have friends in the fire brigade but you obviously havnt a clue what your talking about, go get some proper information and come back with it. For example, your friends arnt moved to work in the ambulance service as you suggest, they do that as a normal part of thier duty.
Robbie all DFB firefighters are also paramedics and we rotate on to our own DFB ambulances as part of our duties. We aren’t being ‘taken off’ fire trucks. It’s part of our job.
We do the bulk of the ambulance calls in Dublin and have for over 100 years. Our colleagues in the HSE/National ambulance service also respond to many calls in Dublin and are fully responsible for the rest of the country.
People, read the article, the facts are in the article. Not enough staff, vehicles and equipment. Simples.
And who pays for it rob, it not simples, ambulances being used as a taxi service at times, transporting people to clinics and things that it is not necessary to do so. People can say they are entitled to an ambulance in 25 min but there is a limited number of crews on duty and if all are on calls, u have to wait. There is not a limitless amount of money to throw at this, let’s not be naive
Ok Brendan, what you are saying is correct, however there has been a massive reduction in cover nationally, less crews actually on the road in “ambulances” not rrv’s which have to wait for an “ambulance” to actually move the patient, this is due to cutbacks of finances. The real facts are there arnt as many paramedic crews on the road and rrv’s are being used to prop up response times but the actual moving of patients to hospital is reduced and also the response times to getting to a patients side to give assistance is reduced because of the reduction of crews. Who pays for it? Us tax payers of course, who else, it needs to be restructured Brendan.
It agree rob, the system as it stands does not work, though I will probably be shot for saying so, Reilly has got some things right. People talk about universal care in holland, Sweden and Germany for example, but in truth, tax structure is so different and I doubt people want to pay more taxes. Maybe a situation like Switzerland where it is law that everybody has health insurance, and if you want a fright, go to comparis.ch to see what that costs, 2 adults and 2 kids, approx 16000chf, 13000 euro. That’s the price for a world class health service
As you might notice from my profile foto Brendan im a paramedic in the national service, I work the system every day, frustrating an all as it is, the problems are not from the paramedics on the ground, we do the very best we can for the public we serve, I dont do it for glory, I do it because I care, like every other medic on the road. These are my personal opinions and im not in any way speaking for the national ambulance service.
I understand rob, my father worked in the ambulance service for just shy of 40 years before retiring. I have had this talk many times with him, one night it got very heated where he asked ‘what would u do, leave people die on the streets’. I said that was exactly where Ireland was heading, no one wants to see it, but no one wants to pay to avoid it. My father told me lately I was right and believe me, it didn’t bring me any pleasure. I also do not have the answer but by my profile, I live in Switzerland and the health system is superb, unfortunately have had plenty of experience of it, but you pay for what u get. U and UR colleagues take care rob
Thanks Brendan. You too.
Spending fortunes on systems , top heavy management , staff cars and no Ambulances ! Fiddling with dispatch times etc etc bullying and intimidation of staff the problems go on and on !!!
I was in attendance with the McQuillan family today at this committee meeting As Wayne is a close friend of mine and it was sad to say the least, it took the HSE 8 weeks to apologies to the family over the targic and senseless lose of Wayne and to hear comments like collateral damage was very painful for them
Statistics are being quoted from Northern Ireland and Scotland and it makes for good reading.However it is being conveniently overlooked that in NHS Trusts they use private services to keep their response times on target.NHS and private crews work side by side without any difficulties.When the Trust achieves their targets the private services are dropped.Its a business decision and it works.Here in Ireland it’s a closed shop. NAS at all costs and have the ongoing saga of not enough resources available when the private sector have extra capacity and qualified crews able to respond.The public don’t care who’s name is on the vehicle once they get a timely response to their case.
This is not bash the NAS,it’s common sense.How long will procurement take to run a tender for vehicles and then training of new Paramedics?
Use what’s available until NAS management gets its house in order.
I for one would not care what type/colour/size or name is on an ambulance if I really needed one for a loved one. As long as the staff/training/equipment etc. is all current, professional and capable.
Simply not true joe, the Hse use hundreds of private ambulances every day and you know that as you work for the privates.. Nas bashing because you can’t get in is unfair..
Not true.I don’t work for a private service, I own it and it’s called Medilink.And HSE don’t use hundreds of private ambulances every day.Its not statistically possible as it would involve each private ambulance vehicle in the country doing a number of calls to the detriment of other work and we both know well that’s not happening.
I have evidence of HSE ambulances still being used for inter facility transfers and when challenged nursing staff say that there was no private available .Further questioning then revealed that only one company was contacted while the rest were ignored.Must be something to do with loyalty schemes!Thats one of many reasons why frontline ambulances cannot achieve their response times.
And FYI,we are doing quite well without HSE work.
So your telling me you and your company would do emergency work for free..? Your a private company, profit making organisation.. If your doing fine without the Hse why do you still do work for them.? Anyone who has a loved one in hospital reading this should ring you tomorrow and they won’t be long finding out how much you charge..! Medilnk do calls for free..!
I never used those words.Im not bashing the NAS.Im simply saying that in the areas most quoted,ie the Uk,the NHS doesn’t achieve their targets without outside assistance.If you doubt this then contact the press office of any NHS Trust and they will confirm it.Why should good old Ireland be any different.The NAS is under pressure.Should this be allowed to continue until it cracks?Use outside help until it’s fixed and then go paddle your own canoe.And MediLink does its share if free work for charities and you might note that we have contributed towards the NAS Pipe Band Race Night.Not bad for somebody who you think is bashing the NAS.
Hey Joe. Hows you, if I remember correctly being your first paramedic all those years ago you are a total gent and it was a pleasure to work for you.
The danger is you get a yellow van turning up with a first aider in a uniform. Would you care then?
This type of comment goes to show exactly how little people really know about private services in Ireland.Almost all private services have undergone rigorous international accreditation inspections and have passed.The rest are in the process.In our case this is in addition to HSE,VHI and PHECC inspections,all passed.The day of a first aider in a uniform went out at the same time as the “ambulance driver”.How many of us react badly to that term.
Hi Rob.Good to hear from you.Hope you’re keeping well
That wouldn’t happen because strict guidelines are published which lay out the minimum practitioner level necessary to attend emergency and non-emergency calls. Statutory and private ambulance services follow these guidelines. The days of the ‘ambulance driver/first aider’ are long gone.
Apart from the question, how would you make money, providing frontline support to the NAS, I think the comparison that NASRA made with similar populated jurisdictions, is because they showed clear representations of how much investment goes into providing Emergency Medical Services in comparison to Ireland.
The NHS EMS is dealing with 20 or 30 times the incidents that NAS/DFB attend so it makes sense to contract in support at that stage. We aren’t at that stage yet! NAS attended 1million cases last year nationally, something London Ambulance Service achieves alone, let alone the rest of the NHS trusts.
The Irish system is running on empty, we have less ambulances, 50% less staff in comparison to Scotland and we have difficult geographical issues.
We also now have hospitals calling in routine transfers as “emergencies ” so to licit a faster response. When they do this an Emergency Ambulance is mobilised instead of an ICV or private ambulance and so the cycle of abuse continues
So it’s a case of wait until Uriah EMS is as busy as the UK before bringing in help.Meanwhile people have to wait.
Kevin you know well how much one of your previous employers was making from HSE covering emergency shifts.It goes without saying that the work was not being undertaken just to keep staff busy.
Uriah should read Irish.Bloody iPhones .
Joe, I know it would have been cheaper to run the ambulance themselves
25 minutes is god if you live regionally. I had an experience where I had to give the ambulance directions to a house in the country, at night. The outcome was not good.
Why don’t we design a system where ambulances are also based regionally to service local areas to the nearest A&E? Just a thought…
Mary, if you buy new furniture you will most likely have to give directions to the delivery driver wont you, in fairness whats wrong with giving directions for the responding crew, the ambulance is already on the road and the crew are given your directions over the vehicle radio while they are moving towards your location, seems reasonable to me because if I was working in your region I probably havnt a clue who you are. Dont think you have a valid point there.
Secondly ambulances are based regionally and do take patients to the nearest a+e.
Yawn
I am aware that ambulances are been dispatched from bases to calls so that figures can say an ambulance has been dispatched for instance recently an ambulance based in Roscommon town at night time was dispatched to black sod in mayo for a call it was in Newport before it was stood down. another night from the same base an ambulance was dispatched to Bellmullet, now anyone knows that it is absolute nonsense dispatching an ambulance to calls that distance in order to say an ambulance was en route to the call. it would be alright if we were talking motorway conditions but we are not. another a Boyle ambulance was sent to kilitmagh because the castle bar ambulance would be another 15 minutes before been free to respond. this is the sort of gerrymandering of response times that is ongoing. sending ambulances half way across the country to say their is one responding is crazy.. it would be interesting to see these sort of dispatches. it would give a more accurate picture. and remember ber on these nights Roscommon was left with no ambulance and no A& E.
Just watch RTE Prime Time.
Get rid of Martin Dunne and his useless team of managers who take so many quick response emergency vehicles out of service for their own use at our expense for up to two weeks at a time for their own use. Poor dumb Martin sees nothing wrong with that lol.
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