‘Ecstatic’ Kelly tops poll, saying: ‘We’re going to work our butts off’

Another day of drama is expected in the Ireland South count today, as Seán Kelly became the first MEP elected in the constituency. It took 34 hours of counting before the former president of the GAA was re-elected to Europe, as the 2ft-long ballot featuring 23 candidates significantly delayed progress.

Mr Kelly had received 119,444 first-preference votes, but had to wait until the ninth count before being re-elected to the European Parliament. The Kerryman hailed the win as “probably the greatest moment in my political career, to be returned top of the poll by so many people”.