Harkin facing fines over election posters in Dundalk

MEP Marian Harkin may be still celebrating her re-election to the European Parliament but she will be brought back down to earth in a hurry with a potentially massive fine hanging over her from Louth County Council.

All election posters had to be removed by midnight last night, otherwise fines of €150 per poster would kick in.

However, dozens of the independent candidate’s posters could still be seen throughout Dundalk this morning.

Talk of the Town counted around 10 along Jocelyn Street and Seatown Place alone while there are several more along the Ardee Road, The Crescent and Anne Street.

If you spot any other election posters be sure to let us know by emailing news@talkofthetown.ie

UPDATE: We are told Green Party councillor Marianne Butler also has a few stray posters – one on the Marlbog Road in Haggardstown and another few around Blackrock.

McGuinness retains her MEP seat

Mairead McGuinness at the count centre with Meath-based candidate Thomas Byrne

Ardee woman Mairead McGuinness has retained her European Parliament seat after being elected on the fifth count in the Midlands North West constituency this afternoon.

The Fine Gael MEP was in the count centre in Castlebar to hear the news with her final tally coming to 135,698.

The former Ear to the Ground presenter needed 17,000 votes after the fourth count to meet the quota, whereas Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy was less than 5,000 votes away.

However, McGuinness leapfrogged him following the elimination of independent Senator Ronan Mullen to join Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan in Europe.

Carthy, from Carrickmacross, is still likely to take the third seat with sitting MEP Marian Harkin leading the Fianna Fáil duo of Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher and Thomas Byrne by around 30,000 votes. If, as expected, Byrne is eliminated then a lot would depend on how the Fianna Fáil pair transfer between each other to determine who takes the final seat.

McGuinness tipped to retain her European seat by topping the poll in this constituency

Mairead McGuinness with local TD Peter Fitzpatrick

Ardee woman Mairead McGuinness is odds-on to retain her European seat in Friday’s elections, according to the results of a new Ipsos MRBI opinion poll published today in the Irish Times.

The poll found that the former Ear to the Ground presenter and Fine Gael candidate had 18% support.

It also predicts that Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy will join her in Europe as he has been tipped to take 15% of the vote.

The two remaining seats in the Midlands North-West constituency are then likely to go to Fianna Fáil’s Pat the Cope Gallagher and independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who both took 12% each.

Their biggest challengers are Marian Harkin (10%), Lorraine Higgins (8%) and Thomas Byrne (8%).

That means that local candidates Mark Dearey of the Green Party (3%) and independent Mark Fitzsimons are unlikely to feature in the overall shake-up, with the latter taking less than half a percent of the vote in the opinion poll, which covered 150 sampling points throughout all constituencies in the Midlands North-West area.

Mairead McGuinness nominated for European Parliament elections

Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick with Mairead McGuinness MEP at last night’s event in the Crowne Plaza Hotel

Local MEP Mairead McGuinness was last night nominated to represent the Midlands-North-West constituency in May’s European Parliament elections.

Mairead, who was first elected in Europe in 2004, was nominated by local TD Peter Fitzpatrick at a selection convention in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk.

The former Ear to the Ground presenter, who lives just outside Ardee, was recently appointed leader of the Fine Gael delegation in the European Parliament. She is also vice-chairman of the EPP Group, the largest grouping in the European Parliament.

The only other local candidate for the Midlands-North-West Constituency for the European Parliament elections on May 23^rd is local Green Party councillor Mark Dearey, who will also be running in the local elections on the same date.

The Midlands-North-West constituency comprises 15 counties, including Louth. Also running for one of the four seats in the constituency is Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy and independent candidates Marian Harkin and Ronan Mullen.