Harkin to battle celebrity vote

THIS constituency regularly gives a third of its votes to Independent candidates, electing one at the expense of a second seat for Fianna Fáil.

According to the Irish Examiner/Questions & Answers poll, history is set to repeat itself with Marian Harkin expected to take a seat from incumbent MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon.

In the weekend poll Ms Harkin had 16% of first preference votes, which is the same number as Ms Scallon had in the 1999 election.