Leinster (European Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Leinster
European Parliament constituency
Ireland-Leinster-European-Parliament-Constituency-1979-2004.svg
Shown within Ireland
Member state Ireland
Created 1979
Dissolved 2004
MEPs 3 (1979–1994)
4 (1994–2004)
Sources

Leinster was a European Parliament constituency in Ireland between 1979 and 2004. It elected 3 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the 1979, 1984 and 1989 elections and 4 MEPs in the elections of 1994 and 1999 using the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

Contents

History and boundaries

The constituency was created in 1979 for the first direct elections to the European Parliament. It comprised the counties of Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow from the historic province of Leinster excluding the County Dublin area. [1] It was abolished under the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2004 and succeeded by the new East constituency. [2]

MEPs

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for Leinster 19792009
Key to parties
Parl.ElectionMember
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
1st 1979 [3] Mark Clinton
(FG)
Patrick Lalor
(FF)
Liam Kavanagh
(Lab)
3 seats
until 1994
1981 [lower-alpha 1] Séamus Pattison
(Lab)
1983 [lower-alpha 2] Justin Keating
(Lab)
2nd 1984 [4] Jim Fitzsimons
(FF)
3rd 1989 [5] Patrick Cooney
(FG)
4th 1994 [6] Alan Gillis
(FG)
Liam Hyland
(FF)
Nuala Ahern
(GP)
5th 1999 [7] Avril Doyle
(FG)
6th 2004 Constituency abolished. See East.

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.

  1. Liam Kavanagh resigned on 7 July 1981 on his appointment as Minister for Labour and was substituted by Séamus Pattison (LAB / PES) on 9 July 1981.
  2. Séamus Pattison resigned on 15 December 1983 on his appointment as a Minister of State and was substituted by Justin Keating (LAB / PES) on 8 February 1984.

Elections

^  *: Outgoing MEP elected at the previous election.
^  †: Outgoing MEP coopted subsequent to the previous election.

1999 election

1999 European Parliament election: Leinster (4 seats) [7]
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
123
Fine Gael Avril Doyle 19.867,88169,495 
Fianna Fáil Jim Fitzsimons [*] 17.258,75061,439 66,117
Fianna Fáil Liam Hyland [*] 17.158,47761,931 65,496
Fine Gael Alan Gillis [*] 14.248,72950,040 56,881
Green Nuala Ahern [*] 13.847,18452,618 66,808
Labour Seán Butler11.138,11240,849  
Sinn Féin Arthur Morgan 5.920,015  
Natural Law Desmond Garrett0.93,191  
Electorate: 706,200  Valid: 342,339  Spoilt: 14,725 (4.1%)  Quota: 68,468  Turnout: 357,064 (50.6%)  

    1994 election

    1994 European Parliament election: Leinster (4 seats) [8] [9]
    PartyCandidateFPv%Count
    1234567
    Fianna Fáil Liam Hyland 17.746,44846,737 47,255 48,238 49,236 51,543 54,161
    Fine Gael Alan Gillis 16.342,82643,156 43,346 43,793 47,112 48,309 50,896
    Fianna Fáil Jim Fitzsimons [*] 15.841,37541,611 42,516 43,684 44,802 45,626 50,263
    Green Nuala Ahern 11.830,99732,302 33,849 35,712 37,946 39,297 45,821
    Fine Gael Monica Barnes 11.429,95830,235 30,448 30,949 33,692 35,070 39,518
    Labour Michael Bell 8.822,98723,186 23,815 24,442 25,366 34,926  
    Labour Séamus Pattison 6.717,58017,869 18,140 18,478 18,953   
    Progressive Democrats John Dardis 4.812,59112,919 13,052 13,472    
    Independent Jack Fitzsimons 2.66,7527,262 7,802     
    Sinn Féin Lucilita Bhreatnach 2.56,5236,627      
    Independent Peter Sweetman1.23,228      
    Natural Law Tom Mullins0.51,180      
    Electorate: 624,561  Valid: 262,445  Spoilt: 6,599 (2.5%)  Quota: 52,490  Turnout: 269,044 (43.1%)  

      1989 election

      1989 European Parliament election: Leinster (3 seats) [10] [11]
      PartyCandidateFPv%Count
      1234567891011
      Fianna Fáil Patrick Lalor [*] 20.075,62775,715 75,856 76,198 76,370 76,914 78,753 81,555 85,090 88,868 90,473
      Fine Gael Patrick Cooney 17.465,77565,926 65,962 66,430 66,504 66,733 67,963 71,289 82,701 112,060 
      Fianna Fáil Jim Fitzsimons [*] 16.963,79763,906 63,994 64,344 64,528 65,214 66,474 69,639 72,739 74,004 75,249
      Labour Michael Bell 13.249,76649,870 49,954 50,298 50,537 51,104 55,754 61,606 65,668 68,015 75,239
      Fine Gael Charles McDonald 9.535,79235,863 35,944 36,063 36,168 36,367 37,910 39,962 46,931   
      Progressive Democrats John Dardis 8.431,62331,730 31,789 32,159 32,194 32,393 33,703 37,490    
      Green Seán English6.323,72423,922 23,992 24,309 24,401 25,162 27,199     
      Workers' Party Michael Enright 2.59,4519,731 9,797 9,982 10,093 10,703      
      Workers' Party Catherine Murphy 1.97,0897,125 7,321 7,413 7,684 8,155      
      Sinn Féin Kevin Dunphy1.24,5344,620 5,036 5,329 7,393       
      Independent Kevin Boland 0.93,3623,462 3,496         
      Sinn Féin Pearse McGeough0.83,0013,009 3,863 3,930        
      Sinn Féin Terry Moore0.62,4242,438          
      Independent Cornelius de Groot0.41,626          
      Electorate: 571,694  Valid: 377,591  Spoilt: 14,106 (3.6%)  Quota: 94,398  Turnout: 391,697 (68.5%)  

        Mark Clinton stepped down and was replaced by his party colleague Patrick Cooney.

        1984 election

        1984 European Parliament election: Leinster (3 seats) [12] [13]
        PartyCandidateFPv%Count
        1234
        Fine Gael Mark Clinton [*] 23.861,66963,159 92,091 
        Fianna Fáil Jim Fitzsimons 22.157,32160,028 60,994 63,935
        Fianna Fáil Patrick Lalor [*] 21.756,19159,180 59,928 61,277
        Fine Gael Deirdre Bolger 12.833,20834,570   
        Labour Justin Keating [] 11.930,77335,308 37,756 53,552
        Workers' Party Liz McManus 3.58,943   
        Sinn Féin Martin Sharkey1.84,548   
        Sinn Féin John Carroll1.74,396   
        Sinn Féin James Dwyer0.92,245   
        Electorate: 545,878  Valid: 259,294  Spoilt: 9,197 (3.4%)  Quota: 64,824  Turnout: 268,491 (49.2%)  

          1979 election

          1979 European Parliament election: Leinster (3 seats) [14] [15]
          PartyCandidateFPv%Count
          12345
          Fine Gael Mark Clinton 25.778,762    
          Fianna Fáil Patrick Lalor 20.262,09463,538 65,267 77,790 
          Labour Liam Kavanagh 13.140,07243,704 47,801 49,187 58,576
          Fianna Fáil Tom Nolan 11.234,21035,502 36,048 48,375 51,343
          Fianna Fáil Paddy Power 10.131,02332,119 32,668   
          Fine Gael Charles McDonald 8.124,87525,637 37,841 38,794  
          Fine Gael Monica Barnes 7.021,38422,461    
          Sinn Féin The Workers' Party Donnchadha MacRaghnaill2.78,414    
          Sinn Féin The Workers' Party Sean Walsh2.06,062    
          Electorate: 486,248  Valid: 306,896  Spoilt: 15,416 (4.8%)  Quota: 76,725  Turnout: 322,312 (66.3%)  

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            References

            1. "European Assembly Elections Act, 1977: Schedule (Constituencies)". Irish Statute Book database. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
            2. "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2004: Schedule (Constituencies)". Irish Statute Book database. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
            3. "1979 European Parliament election – Leinster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
            4. "1984 European Parliament election – Leinster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
            5. "1989 European Parliament election – Leinster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
            6. "1994 European Parliament election – Leinster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
            7. 1 2 "1999 European Parliament election – Leinster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
            8. "Leinster: 1994 European Election Results, Counts, Transfers".
            9. "1994 European Elections Results". 26 April 2024.
            10. "1989 European Elections Results". 26 April 2024.
            11. "Leinster: 1989 European Election Results, Counts, Transfers".
            12. "1984 European Elections Results". 26 April 2024.
            13. "Leinster: 1984 European Election Results, Counts, Transfers".
            14. "1979 European Elections Results". 26 April 2024.
            15. "Leinster: 1979 European Election Results, Counts, Transfers".