Ryan eyes by-elections after conceding defeat

Beaten European parliament candidate Eamon Ryan has said that he and other party candidates will consider running in upcoming by- elections after the Green Party leader failed to win a seat in Dublin.

His comments came as a victorious Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael candidate, called on Europe to do more to help Ireland’s recovery.

The Dublin European parliament election finally came to an end yesterday evening following a recheck of votes.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan conceded defeat after failing to pick up any ground in the race during the recount. He said he was disappointed but at the same time encouraged by the support his party received.

“We ran a really good campaign and have 72,000 votes in Dublin supporting us so that gives us something to work with,” he said.

Mr Ryan added that one in 20 voters overall had supported Green councillors, with the 12 seats they took.

He said his party would field candidates in a number of upcoming by- elections, including the replacement of Brian Hayes in Dublin South West, as well as the next general election.

“We’re going to start looking at candidates for the next general election, whenever that is, and that’s one of the key things now building the base we have.”

Mr Hayes, who took the third and final seat in Dublin, said he was happy with the result. However, he also said Europe would have to do more to support the Irish people. “It’s very important for the central ground in this country to hold together and Europe has a big responsibility on that,” said Mr Hayes.

He said he was referring to European ministers, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank.

“Support on the legacy debt, support on stimulus, support on getting domestic demand in the bigger countries which will help Ireland,” he said. “We need that support otherwise the toxic mix of hard nationalism and socialism will come together as they did in Germany in the 1930s.”

Any deal at a European level in dealing with Ireland’s historic banking debt would be decided by European ministers but MEPs may have the power to influence that, he said.

Responding to her surprise victory, Independent MEP Nessa Childers said she looked forward to another five years in Europe.

She said any co-operation with other Independent MEPS, such as Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, would need to be looked at.

Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan, who topped the poll in Dublin, said she was “overwhelmed” by the vote.

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