The results of the first count of the European election votes in the Irish Republic have been released after polls across the EU closed tonight.
FINE Gael's Mairead McGuinness became the first person elected tonight after she exceeded the quota by 3,053 votes on the first count in the Ireland East constituency.
Her party colleague John Paul Phelan is not expected to hold the second Fine Gael seat although he has refused to concede defeat.
Labour candidate Nessa Childers polled 78,338 first preference votes while Fianna Fáil's Liam Aylward who had been considered at risk came third on 74,666 votes.
In the Dublin constituency, Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell topped the poll with 96,715 first preference votes while Labour's Proinsias de Rossa got 83,471 votes, meaning both look safe to take seats.
The third seat is a tight battle between Fianna Fáil's Eoin Ryan on 55,346 first preference votes, the Socialist Party's Joe Higgins on 50,510 votes and Provisional Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald on 47,928 votes.
In the South, Brian Crowley topped the poll with 118,258 first preference votes, followed by Fine Gael's Seán Kelly with 92,579 votes.
The third seat will be a fight between Provisional Sinn Féin's Toiréasa Ferris on 64,671 first preference votes, Labour's Alan Kelly on 64,152 votes and Fine Gael's Colm Burke on 53,721 votes. Mr Burke will be hoping transfers from his party colleague will get him over the finish line first.
Independent Marian Harkin topped the poll in the North-West with 84,813 first preference votes after the first count while Declan Ganley looks unlikey to win a seat for Libertas after he finished in fourth place on 70,638 votes, nearly 10,000 votes behind Fine Gael's Jim Higgins in third place.
Mr Higgins garnered 80,093 first preference votes while Fianna Fáil's Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher is in second place after the first count on 82,843 votes.
The results of the first count were held back until 9pm when polls across the union closed.
Ireland and 11 other countries had already voted, while voting takes place in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden today.
The Netherlands voted on Thursday but released some of the results. The European Commission has asked for an explanation.
A record low of 43.01 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the election, according to a first official estimate published by the assembly today. That compares to a previous low of 45.47 per cent at the last election in 2004.
Surveys had suggested the election was marked by widespread voter apathy and a desire by citizens to punish the Dublin Administration for their handling of the economic slowdown.
Fianna Fáil are being particularly badly hit in urban areas and the Green Party has lost all its city and county council seats in Dublin, where its TDs are based. Outside the capital the Greens have lost their seat in Carlow and one in Galway City.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey of Fianna Fáil said this morning it was a "very very bad result" for the Dublin Administration. He said the local election was "fought on the basis and lost on the basis of the very difficult decisions" that the Dublin Administration had to make in relation to the economic crisis.
The counting of votes to elect 1,627 councillors in 114 local councils started yesterday at 9am and continued throughout the day and into yesterday evening. It started again this morning at 9am.
Fine Gael has emerged as the largest party in local government with 31 per cent of first preference votes.
Fianna Fáil has been pushed into second place with 23 per cent of first preference votes. Labour has 17 per cent of the vote. Others also have 17 per cent, while Provisional Sinn Féin is on 7 per cent and the Green Party on 2 per cent.
The heavy losses suffered by Fianna Fáil and the Greens, coupled with the strong showing for Fine Gael prompted Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday to announce a motion of no confidence in the Dublin Administration.
Meanwhile, Green Party leader John Gormley said the party would meet next week to discuss a review of the programme for Dublin Administration, although he said any withdrawal from Coalition was not on the agenda for the meeting of the party's executive.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the "tide of public opinion" was against Fianna Fáil. Mr Cowen described the results as "disappointing" and "poor" by the party's standards.
"Sometimes in politics when you take necessary decisions you have to put the country first even if it means the short term political popularity of a party is affected," Mr Cowen said.
"We have to continue with the work that we have set out and that is to fix this recession to put this country back on the road and to use the mandate that we have until 2012 to do so," the Taoiseach added.
The former leader of the Green Party Trevor Sargent said the "best hope for the country is for the Greens to remain in Government".
Speaking after an exit poll was released yesterday, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said: "This is not nice and it's not nice for our people. (But) we are in this for the five years and we will continue."
taken & edited from IAIS, 06/07/09 18:01 EST
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