Midlands–North-West (European Parliament constituency)

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).

Midlands–North-West
European Parliament constituency
Location among the current constituencies
Midlands–North-West shown within Ireland (2019 borders)
Member stateIreland
Electorate1,224,888
Created2014
MEPs4
Sources

History and boundaries
Election Area Seats
2014 Counties of Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath; and the city of Galway.[1] 4
2019 Loss of Laois and Offaly to South[2]

The Constituency Commission proposed in its 2013 report that at the next European Parliament election a new constituency called Midlands–North-West be created, consisting 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.[3] 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.[4] 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." It was nicknamed "Malin M50" for its wide spread, from the suburbs of Dublin to the Atlantic seaboard.[5]

For the 2019 European Parliament election, a reapportionment following Brexit and the loss of 73 MEPs from the United Kingdom gave two additional seats to Ireland. Following a recommendation of the Constituency Commission, counties Laois and Offaly were moved to the South constituency, with Midlands–North-West maintaining its 4 seats.[6][7]

The constituency comprises the counties of Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath; and the city of Galway.[2]

The main urban areas of Midlands–North-West (by population size) are Galway, Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan, Newbridge, Naas, Athlone, Mullingar, Celbridge and Letterkenny.

Per the 2016 census, it has a population of 1,523,517.[8]

MEPs
2014–2019 boundaries
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for Midlands–North-West 2014–
Key to parties
Parl.ElectionMember
(Party)		Member
(Party)		Member
(Party)		Member
(Party)
8th2014[9] Matt Carthy
(SF)		 Luke 'Ming' Flanagan
(Ind)		 Marian Harkin
(Ind)		 Mairead McGuinness
(FG)
9th2019 Maria Walsh
(FG)
2020[nb 1] Chris MacManus
(SF)

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.

Elections

2019 election
2019 European Parliament election: Midlands–North-West[10]
PartyCandidateFPv%Count 1Count 2Count 3Count 4Count 5Count 6Count 7Count 8Count 9Count 10Count 11Count 12Count 13
Fine Gael Mairead McGuinness 22.6% 134,630                        
Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan 14.3% 85,034 86,906 87,008 87,188 87,333 87,964 88,543 90,187 91,747 94,353 97,319 112,760 121,824
Sinn Féin Matt Carthy 13.0% 77,619 78,487 78,513 78,612 78,653 79,028 79,437 81,544 82,921 83,851 84,825 91,396 98,732
Fine Gael Maria Walsh 10.8% 64,500 70,536 70,619 70,660 70,731 71,425 71,793 72,265 74,116 76,056 80,338 96,163 107,192
Independent Peter Casey 9.5% 56,650 57,848 57,892 58,034 58,212 58,602 59,635 60,769 61,616 64,690 66,565 69,923 78,362
Green Party Saoirse McHugh 8.6% 51,019 52,731 52,821 52,976 53,068 53,966 54,548 55,455 58,642 60,778 61,957    
Fianna Fáil Brendan Smith 7.2% 42,814 44,040 44,059 44,076 44,130 44,255 44,692 44,836 45,235 46,820 64,532 68,677  
Fianna Fáil Anne Rabbitte 5.1% 30,220 31,084 31,122 31,143 31,198 31,471 31,893 32,041 32,714 34,610      
Independent Fidelma Healy Eames 2.7% 15,991 16,468 16,515 16,621 16,764 17,590 19,312 19,694 20,410        
Labour Party Dominic Hannigan 2.1% 12,378 13,031 13,065 13,150 13,197 13,408 13,723 14,089          
Solidarity–PBP Cyril Brennan 1.4% 8,130 8,226 8,246 8,337 8,365 8,553 8,699            
Renua Michael O'Dowd 1.2% 6,897 7,200 7,220 7,304 7,445 7,677              
Independent Olive O'Connor 0.5% 3,132 3,236 3,313 3,326 3,477                
Independent Dilip Mahapatra 0.4% 2,450 2,562 2,577 2,654 2,694                
Direct Democracy Patrick Greene 0.2% 1,352 1,400 1,412                    
Independent James Miller 0.2% 1,322 1,375 1,446 1,490                  
Independent Diarmuid Mulcahy 0.1% 789 811                      
Electorate: 1,224,888   Valid: 594,927   Spoilt: 21,628 (3.5%)   Quota: 118,986   Turnout: 616,555 (50.3%)

    2014 election
    2014 European Parliament election: Midlands–North-West[9]
    PartyCandidateFPv%Count 1Count 2Count 3Count 4Count 5Count 6Count 7Count 8
    Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan[11] 19.2 124,063 129,561            
    Sinn Féin Matt Carthy 17.7 114,727 117,670 120,723 124,976 126,492 127,135 135,046  
    Fine Gael Mairead McGuinness 14.2 92,080 94,019 102,025 107,689 135,698      
    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[12] 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

      Footnotes
      1. Matt Carthy was substituted by Chris MacManus (SF / GUE/NGL) in February 2020.

      References
      1. "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2014". Irish Statute Book database. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
      2. "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019". Irish Statute Book. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
      3. "Report on European Parliament Constituencies 2013" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
      4. "New Irish MEP constituencies announced". RTÉ News. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
      5. "Illogical constituencies to make for unpredictable Euro election". The Irish Times. 3 March 2014.
      6. "Dublin and Ireland South to gain extra European Parliament seats". RTÉ News. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
      7. "Report on European Parliament Constituencies 2018" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
      8. https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0429/1046344-eu-elections-2019-midlands-north-west-constituency/
      9. "2014 European Parliament election – Midlands–North-West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
      10. "Candidates for European election". Mayo Returning Officer. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
      11. "Luke 'Ming' Flanagan to stand in European election". The Irish Times. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
      12. "Mark launches Euro election campaign after 'whirlwind response' to cannabis stance". Dundalk Democrat. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.

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