2024 European Parliament election in Ireland

2024 European Parliament election in Ireland

←  2019 7 June 2024 2029 →
←  outgoing members elected members  →
14 Irish seats to the European Parliament [1]
Opinion polls
Turnout	1,800,226 (50.7% 1.0 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Seán Kelly Billy Kelleher Lynn Boylan [a] Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin Alliance EPP Renew The Left Leader's seat South South Dublin Last election 29.6%, 5 seats 16.6%, 2 seats 11.7%, 1 seat Seats won 4 / 14 4 / 14 2 / 14 Seat change 1 2 1 Popular vote 362,766 356,794 194,403 Percentage 20.8 20.4% 11.1% Swing 8.8 pp 3.8 pp 0.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ciaran Mullooly [b] Aodhán Ó Ríordáin Ciarán Cuffe Party Independent Ireland Labour Green Alliance Renew S&D Greens–EFA Leader's seat Midlands–North-West Dublin Dublin (Lost Re-Election) Last election New Party 3.1%, 0 seats 11.4%, 2 seats Seats won 1 / 14 1 / 14 0 / 14 Seat change 1 1 2 Popular vote 108,685 58,975 93,575 Percentage 6.2% 3.4% 5.4% Swing n/a 0.3 pp 6.0 pp   Seventh party   Leader Collective leadership [c] Party Inds. 4 Change Alliance The Left Last election 7.4%, 2 seats Seats won 0 / 14 Seat change 2 Popular vote 79,658 Percentage 4.6% Swing 2.8 pp

The 2024 European Parliament election in Ireland is the Irish component of the 2024 European Parliament election and was held on Friday, 7 June 2024, the same day as the Irish local elections and Limerick mayoral election. ^[2]

Electoral system

Ireland is entitled to 14 MEPs in the Tenth European Parliament. They are elected on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote in three constituencies:

• Dublin (4 seats);
• Midlands–North-West (5 seats); and
• South (5 seats).

Thirteen MEPs were elected in 2019. However, the last candidate elected in Dublin and in South did not take their seats until January 2020, as part of the post-Brexit redistribution of seats. Ireland was allocated an additional seat in 2023 after a pre-election assessment of the parliament composition based on the most recent population figures. ^{[3] [1] [4]} The Electoral Commission recommended this seat be given to Midlands–North-West, with the transfer of County Laois and County Offaly from Ireland South. ^{[5] [6]} This change was implemented by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023.

Franchise

Irish citizens and other non-Irish EU citizens residing in the country are entitled to vote in the European elections in Ireland, provided that they are registered to vote for EU elections and that they compiled a statutory declaration issued by the local authority of their residence. Irish citizens residing abroad cannot vote for an election or referendum in Ireland. In addition, those eligible to vote must turn 18 years old by election day at the latest. ^[7]

Outgoing delegation

The table shows the detailed composition of the Irish seats at the European Parliament as of 24 January 2024. ^[8]

EP Group		Seats	Party		Seats	MEPs
	European People's Party	5 / 13		Fine Gael	5	Deirdre Clune Frances Fitzgerald Seán Kelly Colm Markey Maria Walsh
	The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL	4 / 13		Independents 4 Change	2	Clare Daly Mick Wallace
				Sinn Féin	1	Chris MacManus
				Independents	1	Luke 'Ming' Flanagan
	Renew Europe	2 / 13		Fianna Fáil	2	Barry Andrews Billy Kelleher
	Greens–European Free Alliance	2 / 13		Green Party	2	Ciarán Cuffe Grace O'Sullivan
Total					13

Retiring incumbents

Constituency	Departing MEP	Party		EP Group		First elected	Date announced
South	Deirdre Clune		Fine Gael		EPP	2014	15 November 2023 [9]
Dublin	Frances Fitzgerald		Fine Gael		EPP	2019	6 November 2023 [10]
Midlands–North-West	Colm Markey		Fine Gael		EPP	2020	23 March 2024 [11]

Campaign

Timeline

• 5 April: Ministerial order fixing the election date made by Darragh O'Brien, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage
• 15 April: Opening of the nomination period
• 22 April: Close of the nomination period for non-Irish EU citizens
• 30 April: Close of the nomination period for Irish citizens
• 8 May: Date on which posters may be erected
• 7 June: Polling day (7 a.m.–10 p.m.)
• 9 June: Counting of votes commences

Debates

On Monday 20 May 2024 RTÉ One's Upfront with Katie Hannon hosted a debate between eight candidates running in the Midlands-North-West constituency: Peter Casey (Ind), Barry Cowen (FF), Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (Ind), Saoirse McHugh (Ind), Chris MacManus (SF), Pauline O'Reilly (GP), Peadar Tóibín (Aon) and Maria Walsh (FG). ^[12]

On Friday 30 May RTÉ One's Prime Time hosted 8 candidates from the South constituency: Lorna Bogue (Rabh), Paul Gavan (SF), Niamh Hourigan (Lab), Billy Kelleher (FF), Michael McNamara (Ind), John Mullins (FG), Grace O'Sullivan (GP) and Mick Wallace of (I4C). ^[13]

On Tuesday 4 June RTÉ One's Prime Time hosted 8 candidates from the Dublin constituency: Barry Andrews (FF), Ciarán Cuffe (GP), Clare Daly (I4C), Regina Doherty (FG), Aodhán Ó Riordáin (Lab), Lynn Boylan (SF), Sinéad Gibney (SDs) and Bríd Smith (PBP–S). ^[14]

Results

Party		EP Group		Candidates	Seats	±	1st pref.	FPv%	±%
	Fine Gael		EPP	5	4	1	362,766	20.79%	8.81%
	Fianna Fáil		RE	6	4	2	356,794	20.44%	3.84%
	Sinn Féin		The Left	6	2	1	194,403	11.14%	0.56%
	Independent Ireland		RE	3	1	1	108,685	6.23%	New
	Labour		S&D	3	1	1	58,975	3.38%	0.28%
	Green		Greens/EFA	3	0	2	93,575	5.36%	6.04%
	Inds. 4 Change		The Left	2	0	2	79,658	4.58%	2.82%
	Aontú			3	0	New	65,559	3.76%	New
	Social Democrats			3	0		51,571	2.95%	1.75%
	Ireland First			3	0	New	32,667	1.87%	New
	PBP–Solidarity			3	0		31,802	1.82%	0.48%
	Irish Freedom			3	0	New	29,709	1.70%	New
	National Party			4	0	New	12,879	0.74%	New
	Rabharta			2	0	New	11,302	0.65%	New
	The Irish People			3	0	New	11,024	0.63%	New
	Independent			21	2	1	243,861	13.97%	1.73%
Valid votes							1,745,230	96.95%
Blank and invalid votes							54,996	3.05%
Totals							1,800,226	100.0%
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout							3,554,450	50.65%	0.97%
Source: "European Parliament Election Results 2024". Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

MEPs elected

2024 European Parliament Ireland constituencies

Main article: List of members of the European Parliament for Ireland, 2024–2029

Constituency	Name	Party		EP group
Dublin	Regina Doherty		Fine Gael		EPP
	Barry Andrews		Fianna Fáil		RE
	Lynn Boylan		Sinn Féin		The Left
	Aodhán Ó Ríordáin		Labour		S&D
Midlands–North-West	Luke 'Ming' Flanagan		Independent		The Left
	Barry Cowen		Fianna Fáil		RE
	Maria Walsh		Fine Gael		EPP
	Nina Carberry		Fine Gael		EPP
	Ciaran Mullooly		Independent Ireland		RE
South	Seán Kelly		Fine Gael		EPP
	Billy Kelleher		Fianna Fáil		RE
	Michael McNamara		Independent		RE
	Cynthia Ní Mhurchú		Fianna Fáil		RE
	Kathleen Funchion		Sinn Féin		The Left
Source: RTÉ News

The elected MEPs took office on 16 July. This left four vacancies in the Dáil and one vacancy in the Seanad. Another senator elected as an MEP had resigned her Seanad seat on 10 July, and was replaced by a nominee on the same day. A writ for by-elections for the vacancies in the Dáil must be moved within 6 months of that date. ^[15]

Opinion polls

See also: Opinion polling for the 2024 European Parliament election

Nationwide party polling

Last date of polling	Polling firm / Commissioner	Sample size	SF Left	FF Renew	FG EPP	GP G/EFA	Lab S&D	SD	PBP–S	Aon	II	O/I [d]
27 May 2024	Ireland Thinks/The Journal [16]	1,161	17.4	17.7	18	7.2	3.5	5.3	2.8	5 [e]	– [f]	23
22 May 2024	Red C/Business Post [17]	1,021	21	14	20	5	3	5	4	3	– [f]	25 [g]
15 May 2024	Ipsos B&A/Irish Times [18]	1,500	16	22	19	4	6	3	3	2	4	21
7 May 2024	Ireland Thinks/The Journal [19]	1,633	22	16	19	6	3	5	2	4	– [f]	24
7 April 2024	Ireland Thinks/The Journal [20]	1,334	23	17	20	6	3	6	3	5	– [f]	17
7 February 2024	Ireland Thinks/The Journal [21]	1,255	26	19	19	6	4	4	3	– [f]	– [f]	19
8 February 2020	2020 general election	—	24.5	22.2	20.9	7.1	4.4	2.9	2.6	1.9	– [h]	13.5
24 May 2019	2019 EP election	—	11.7	16.6	29.6	11.4	3.1	1.2	2.3	– [h]	– [h]	24.1

Candidate polling

Dublin

Last date of polling	Polling firm / Commissioner	Sample size	Andrews (FF)	L. Boylan (SF)	Doherty (FG)	Ó Riordáin (Lab)	Cuffe (GP)	Smith (S–PBP)	Daly (I4C)	Gibney (SD)	N. Boylan (II)	Doolan (SF)	Considine (Aon)	Others
31 May 2024 [22]	Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent	496	14.1	11.2	15	7.4	7.4	4.8	8.3	4.6	9.2	3.4	2.1	12.5
15 May 2024 [18]	Ipsos B&A/The Irish Times	500	18	15	12	10	8	6	6	5	5	3	2	14
7 May 2024 [23]	Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent	457 [24]	17	16	14	7	8	6	5	4	7	3	2	11

Midlands–North-West

Last date of polling	Polling firm / Commissioner	Sample size	Flanagan (Ind)	Walsh (FG)	Cowen (FF)	Chambers (FF)	Carberry (FG)	Gildernew (SF)	Mullooly (II)	MacManus (SF)	Blaney (FF)	Casey (Ind)	Tóibín (Aon)	Others
31 May 2024 [22]	Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent	614	12.1	12.5	10.5	5.3	7	7.2	6.4	5.6	2.6	2.9	7.5	20.5
15 May 2024 [18]	Ipsos B&A/The Irish Times	500	11	10	10	9	9	8	7	6	4	4	4	17
7 May 2024 [23]	Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent	631 [24]	10	9	10	6	9	8	8	7	2	4	6	21

South

Last date of polling	Polling firm / Commissioner	Sample size	Kelly (FG)	Kelleher (FF)	Funchion (SF)	Ní Mhurchú (FF)	Gavan (SF)	Hourigan (Lab)	McNamara (Ind)	Mullins (FG)	Blighe (IF)	O'Sullivan (GP)	Wallace (I4C)	Doyle (SD)	Others
31 May 2024 [22]	Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent	660	18.5	14.4	9.5	4.6	5.7	3.6	9.9	4.2	4.3	6.2	4.7	3.3	10.5
15 May 2024 [18]	Ipsos B&A/The Irish Times	500	23	18	11	7	6	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	10
7 May 2024 [23]	Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent	643 [24]	14	16	13	4	5	3	8	6	4	5	5	5	12

Notes

1. Sinn Féin has no leader in the European Parliament but Lynn Boylan is their longest serving MEP.
2. Independent Ireland has no leader in the European Parliament but Ciaran Mullooly was their only elected MEP at this election.
3. Pictured here are the party's two successful candidates in the 2019 election, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly.
4. The figure for 'Others/Independents' (including Independents 4 Change candidates) is the remainder when all others are removed. As with all such calculations, the figure shown may be slightly inaccurate due to rounding effects.
5. Includes 'Others'.
6. Not specifically mentioned in the report.
7. Includes 21% for 'Independent' and 4% for 'Other Party'.
8. Did not contest this election.

References

1. European Council Decision (EU) 2023/2061 of 22 September 2023 establishing the composition of the European Parliament
2. "Polling Day Orders made for European, local and Limerick mayoral elections". Government of Ireland (Press release). Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. 6 April 2024. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
3. "2024 European elections: 15 additional seats divided between 12 countries | News". European Parliament. 13 September 2023. Archived from the original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
4. Cunningham, Paul (16 March 2023). "Ireland to gain seat in next European Parliament term". RTÉ News . Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
5. Burns, Sarah (20 November 2023). "Extra European Parliament seat recommended for Midlands-North West". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
6. "Review of European Parliament Constituencies Report 2023" (PDF). Electoral Commission. 20 November 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
7. "Ireland - How to vote". European elections 2024: all you need to know. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
8. "European Parliament". Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
9. Hurley, Sandra (15 November 2023). "Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune will not contest next election". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
10. "Fitzgerald not contesting European Parliament election next year". RTÉ News . 6 November 2023. Archived from the original on 6 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
11. "Sitting Fine Gael MEP Colm Markey says he will not contest the European elections". TheJournal.ie. 24 March 2024. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
12. McGee, Harry (21 May 2024). "European election Midlands-North-West debate: Migration a heated topic, but winning candidates hard to pick". The Irish Times . Retrieved 21 May 2024.
13. "Eight candidates take part in European election debate". RTÉ News . 31 May 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
14. O'Sullivan, Colman (5 June 2024). "EU candidates for Dublin quizzed on migration, defence". RTÉ News . Retrieved 5 June 2024.
15. Cunningham, Paul (17 June 2024). "The loopholes to avoiding four by-elections". RTÉ News .
16. Ryan, Órla (31 May 2024). "Independents remain most popular, while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil overtake Sinn Féin in latest poll". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
17. "Business Post Red C Opinion Poll Report May 2024" (PDF). Business Post. 28 May 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
18. Leahy, Pat (18 May 2024). "Big parties set to win seats in each of three European Parliament constituencies, poll finds". The Irish Times . Retrieved 18 May 2024.
19. Ryan, Órla (10 May 2024). "Independent candidates overtake Sinn Féin as voters' top choice ahead of European elections". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
20. Matthews, Jane (11 April 2024). "Simon Harris's leadership makes 15% of voters less likely to vote for Fine Gael - poll". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
21. Finn, Christina (12 February 2024). "New poll shows Sinn Féin out in front for upcoming European elections in June". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
22. Cunningham, Kevin (2 June 2024). "Poll: The race to Europe – very few done deals as candidates close in on finish line". Irish Independent . Retrieved 2 June 2024.
23. Corcoran, Jody (19 May 2024). "Poll reveals the key battle the local and European elections is between centrist parties and the 'new right'". Irish Independent . Retrieved 21 May 2024.
24. Corcoran, Jody (19 May 2024). "European Elections". Sunday Independent . p. 10.

External links

• "European elections". European Parliament.