Martin criticised over MEP election strategy

Fianna Fáil’s failure to win more than one Euro seat has sparked unease among its TDs. Some have criticised leader Micheál Martin’s strategy after Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher was narrowly edged out in the Midlands-North West constituency.

With the constituency spreading from Donegal to the Dublin commuter belt, Mr Martin chose to run two candidates, but critics say picking a reasonably strong standard bearer in the East of the region, in Senator Thomas Byrne, deprived Mr Gallagher of first preference votes that may have edged him over the line.

The seat was the last in the EU to declare after a after a mammoth 16-hour recount which saw Independent MEP Marian Harkin re-elected by a margin of 275 votes over Mr Gallagher.

Despite regaining its position as the biggest party in local government with 25% of the vote, Fianna Fáil only took a Euro seat in the Ireland South constituency with the election of Brian Crowley. The party came in fifth in Dublin, where its share of the vote remained down on 2009.

Sinn Féin took a seat in all three constituencies and Fine Gael managed to win four seats.

One senior Fianna Fáil figure said: “The strategy was wrong. We should have done much better at the European level. Micheál has made mistakes.”

The sprawling Midlands-North West seat also saw the election of independent TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan to Brussels, along with Ms Harkin, Fine Gael’s Máiréad McGuinness and Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy.

Former junior environment minister Mr Gallagher was first elected to the Dáil in 1981, and served as an MEP between 1994-2002.

Fianna Fáil pressed the Donegal-based TD to run for Europe again in 2009, when it faced an electoral hammering as the recession took hold.