Midlands–North-West (European Parliament constituency)

Midlands–North-West
European Parliament constituency
Location among the 2014 constituencies

Midlands–North-West shown within Ireland
Member state Ireland
Created 2014
MEPs 4
Sources

Midlands–North-West is a constituency of the European Parliament in Ireland. It elects four Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

History and boundaries

The Constituency Commission proposed in its 2013 report that at the next European Parliament election a new constituency called Midlands–North-West be created.[1] The report proposed changes to the constituencies of Ireland so as to reduce the total number of MEPs from 12 to 11, due to the accession of Croatia to the European Union.[2]

The constituency comprises the counties of Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath; and the city of Galway.[3] It comprises all the area of the old North-West constituency, with the exception of County Clare which was moved to the South constituency; as well the northern and central Leinster part of the East constituency.

The Irish Times criticised the wide geographic spread of the constituency, calling it "a heterogeneous mish-mash of counties with little historic or cultural connection to each other." [4]

MEPs

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for Midlands–North-West 2014–
Parl.ElectionMember
(Party)		Member
(Party)		Member
(Party)		Member
(Party)
8th 2014[5] Luke 'Ming' Flanagan
(Ind)		 Mairead McGuinness
(FG)		 Matt Carthy
(SF)		 Marian Harkin
(Ind)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

2014 election

2014 European Parliament election: Midlands–North-West[5]
Party Candidate % 1st Pref Count 1 Count 2Count 3Count 4Count 5Count 6Count 7Count 8
Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan[6] 19.2 124,063 129,561            
Fine Gael Mairead McGuinness 14.2 92,080 94,019 102,025 107,689 135,698      
Sinn Féin Matt Carthy 17.7 114,727 117,670 120,723 124,976 126,492 127,135 135,046  
Independent Marian Harkin 10.7 68,986 72,045 77,798 89,611 95,577 99,843 105,501 106,520
Fianna Fáil Pat the Cope Gallagher 9.2 59,562 60,466 62,071 65,725 67,606 68,440 102,915 106,245
Fianna Fáil Thomas Byrne 8.6 55,384 56,528 58,505 62,335 63,392 64,057    
Fine Gael Jim Higgins 6.2 39,908 40,462 43,292 45,060        
Independent Rónán Mullen 5.6 36,326 38,260 41,164          
Labour Party Lorraine Higgins 4.9 31,951 33,744            
Green Party Mark Dearey 1.5 9,520              
Direct Democracy Ben Gilroy 1.2 7,683              
Independent Mark Fitzsimons[7] 0.4 2,424              
Independent T. J. Fay 0.3 2,002              
Fís Nua Cordelia Níc Fhearraigh 0.3 1,829              
Electorate: 1,202,997   Valid: 646,445   Spoilt: 17,258 (1.4%)   Quota: 129,290   Turnout: 663,703 (55.2%)

    See also

    References

    1. ↑ "Report on European Parliament Constituencies 2013" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
    2. ↑ "New Irish MEP constituencies announced". RTÉ News. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
    3. ↑ "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2014". Irish Statute Book database. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
    4. ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/illogical-constituencies-to-make-for-unpredictable-euro-election-1.1711020
    5. 1 2 "2014 European Parliament election – Midlands–North-West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
    6. ↑ "Luke 'Ming' Flanagan to stand in European election". The Irish Times. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
    7. ↑ "Mark launches Euro election campaign after 'whirlwind response' to cannabis stance". Dundalk Democrat. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.

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