John Mullins polling 'better than people think' in Ireland South

Fine Gael director of elections Simon Coveney says Mullins has a 'real shot' at taking a second European Parliament seat in the constituency 

Fine Gael candidate in the Ireland South constituency, John Mullins, at a rally in Clancy’s rooftop bar in Cork City. Among the attendance were former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, and outgoing MEP Deirdre Clune. Picture: John Allen

Fine Gael’s John Mullins is polling “better than people think” in the Ireland South election race, the party’s director of elections has claimed.

Simon Coveney said the businessman and long-time party strategist has a “real shot” at taking a second seat in the constituency for Fine Gael.

The party’s sitting MEP Seán Kelly has topped the two most recent polls, with Mr Mullins on 4.2% in the most recent poll published on Sunday. However, Mr Coveney says he believes the party can retain the seat currently held by outgoing MEP Deirdre Clune.

Internal polling is showing a stronger position for Mr Mullins than other polls, according to Mr Coveney. He said: 

I genuinely believe we can win two seats

Sean Kelly is polling really well because he’s been a fantastic MEP. He’s been a really impactful MEP and deserves to be re-elected.

“But John Mullins is a dark horse. If Cork and Waterford vote for him, as the constituency is divided, he has a great chance of being elected.

“There are MEPs who make noise and MEPs who get things done. I believe John would be the latter.

“I’m confident he’s doing better than people think. If he’s close to 10%, he’ll be in the shakeup for the last seat. John Mullins can win a seat.”

The former foreign affairs minister and tánaiste said he believes Fine Gael’s recent polling nationally means the party is looking to retain all five of its European seats.

However, he cautioned that that would be a big ask.

We have a great chance of winning two seats in Midlands-North-West. We’re really lucky to have candidates of that calibre. But it will be a knife-edge for that last seat.

“We do have to be realistic, five seats would be an amazing day, four would be something a lot of people wouldn’t have thought a few weeks ago.”

The Cork South-Central TD said he has yet to make a decision on his own future, having opted not to make himself available for Cabinet when Taoiseach Simon Harris was elected in April. He told the Irish Examiner he would “take the summer” to make up his mind.

Sunday’s poll showed that Sean Kelly and Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher are likely to top the poll, with 18.5% and 14.4% support, respectively.

They are followed by Independent TD Michael McNamara on 9.9% and Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion on 9.5%. Sitting Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan is on 6.2% of support, putting her into a fight with Sinn Féin’s Paul Gavan (5.7%), Independent MEP Mick Wallace (4.7%), Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (4.6%) and Ireland First’s Derek Blighe (4.3%) for the last seat.

Within both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, there is a belief that they can take a second seat away from Fine Gael, but all parties say that next week’s count in Nemo Rangers will go on for some time, with a final declaration not expected for days.

Meanwhile, Ms Ní Mhurchú has said she will campaign to introduce legislation in the European Parliament, if elected, to raise the age at which a child can register for a social media account to 16 years old.

Ms Ní Mhurchú made the pledge as she met with parents’ associations in Wicklow which are pushing for voluntary smartphone bans in schools.

According to Ms Ní Mhurchú, parents are “waking up to the damage that smartphones and social media are doing to the development of our children”.