Clune holds off Harris challenge for final seat

Deirdre Clune of Cork’s Barry political dynasty fought off party young gun Simon Harris to clinch a second seat for Fine Gael in a marathon Ireland South election count.

Fine Gael MEP and former GAA president Seán Kelly described the dual victory as a great day “for the Fine Gael family” in the South as they bucked national trends.

Mr Kelly’s seat had never been in doubt. However, it was three days of lows and highs for the Clune team as the senator was trailing Wicklow TD Simon Harris until the tenth count.

The fourth seat was finally Ms Clune’s in the 12th count, when sitting MEP Mr Kelly was also elected.

Mr Kelly polled 121,566 votes, Ms Clune 74,370, and Mr Harris 70,808.

The other two Ireland South MEPs, Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley and Sinn Féin’s Liadh Ní Riada, were elected on Monday.

The result means the Ireland South European constituency has no MEP from Leinster with Mr Crowley, Ms Ní Riada, and Ms Clune from Cork and Mr Kelly from Kerry.

Reacting to losing out to his running mate Ms Clune, Mr Harris said he respected the will of the people.

Meanwhile, there is just one outstanding European seat to be filled in the Midlands North West constituency. Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy was elected on the seventh count to take the third seat with the last seat a battle between Independent Marian Harkin and Fianna Fáil’s Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher. The Harkin and Gallagher camps expect a recount as there may be a few hundred votes between them. Earlier, Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness was elected on the fifth count.