Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is set to be re-elected this morning — but a neck-and-neck race lower down the pecking order last night saw Peter Casey come within a few hundred votes of an upset.

Dublin's four new MEP seats have finally been decided, after three days of counting.

Outspoken Independents, a celebrity candidate, and a risk that the result could cause a snap general election mean the sprawling Midlands-North West is set for high drama, writes Political Correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith.

Solidarity-People Before Profit has put forward four European election candidates to become “disturbers of the political peace”.

Campaigners are warning the healthcare crisis can be seen in overcrowding and understaffing.