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.

Fitzsimons removed from RTÉ studios prior to election debate

Mark Fitzsimons

Dundalk-based local and European election candidate Mark Fitzsimons caused something of a stir at RTÉ studios at the weekend after claims he was physically removed from Montrose after demanding to take part in a special election debate.

Gardaí were called to the Donnybrook-based studios in Dublin over the matter after Mark – who is visually impaired – staged a protest in order to be allowed to take part in the show.

Fitzsimons says that RTÉ staff attempted to physically remove him from the studio as he demanded to be allowed participate in the main Midlands-North-West debate.

Mr Fitzsimons staged the protest in the studio just minutes before the show went on air.

He sat down on the studio floor before he and his carer were removed by security guards.

Mark told The Irish Daily Mirror: “They tried to remove us, and myself and my carer stood our ground.

“They tried to put their arms around us and move us on, and I said: ‘No, I am here to protest.”

“They kind of put their arms around us to forcibly remove us, and when they did that I just sat down on the floor.”

RTÉ bosses decided to call gardaí and Mr Fitzsimons eventually agreed to leave the studio, although he later returned to take part in the second part of the programme

An RTÉ spokeswoman said: “There was a minor incident in studio last night ahead of the debate section of the Prime Time programme.

“Mr Fitzsimons and his guest looked to make a protest and were asked to leave the studio area.

“Mr Fitzsimons later appeared on the programme and had the opportunity to voice his views and take part in the debate.”

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.

Higgins accuses Fáilte Ireland of failing “spectacularly” to promote the Giro d’Italia

Senator Lorraine Higgins

Labour Senator Lorraine Higgins has criticised Fáilte Ireland for failing to maximise the opportunities from the hosting of the Giro d’Italia in Ireland next month.

The party’s European election candidate for the Midlands North West constituency, which includes Louth, has accused to the tourism body of “spectacularly” failing to promote the major cycling event.

The world’s second largest cycling race, the Giro starts in Belfast on 8^th May and will travel from Armagh to Dublin, via Dundalk, Castlebellingham, Kilsaran and Drogheda on the 11^th May.

Commenting on the matter, Senator Higgins said: “Fáilte Ireland has spectacularly failed in their promotion of the Giro d’Italia.

“This issue was raised by sporting legend Sean Kelly two months ago, and here we are now, four weeks out from the greatest sporting event to come to Ireland this year, and we have still heard nothing about it. This is not just an event for ‘cycling enthusiasts’, it is a huge global tourism initiative that has the potential to generate millions in revenue

“The Grande Partenza event in Denmark in 2012 attracted 500,000 spectators and gained massive international media coverage when it was broadcast in 165 countries to 775 million people. The Giro d’Italia represents a significant opportunity to publicise Ireland as a cycling and holiday destination to a global television audience.

“It is very disappointing that more has not been done to raise awareness of this event amongst the Irish public and to ensure it is one of the highlights of the summer tourism calendar. People across the country are not really aware this event is coming to Irish shores, not to mind Dublin and Louth where the event is actually taking place.

“The Northern Ireland Tourism Board has done more to raise the profile of this event than Irish bodies, launching an initiative ‘Be Part of the Start’ and even issuing a mail out to families in the Republic of Ireland. Fáilte Ireland has markedly lost out in maximising the marketing and revenue opportunity.

“I am now calling on Fáilte Ireland to get to the races and do everything possible to promote the Giro over the coming month. We want families, cycling enthusiasts and general spectators lining the entire route from Belfast to Dublin to see this spectacle of cycling greats and the iconic ‘pink’ jersey as they weave their way through the Irish countryside.

“Cycling has a special place in the memories given the giants of the sport that have come from Irish soil such as Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly. We now have a new generation in Dan Martin, Sam Bennett and Nicholas Roche and cycling is more popular than ever before with the Cycling Ireland membership increasing threefold in last five years. This is the opportunity to reignite the interest of a new generation of cycling greats and let us not miss out on it.”