Crowley elected on first count in Ireland South

Mon, 26 May, 2014 - 13:48

Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley has been elected on the first count in the Ireland South constituency this afternoon.

He polled 180,329 votes, well in excess of the 131,500 quota.

Second-placed Sinn Féin's is almost guaranteed a seat after polling just short of the quota with 125,309 while Fine Gael's Sean Kelly is widely expected to take the third seat after securing 83,520 first-preference votes.

FF's Brian Crowley does it again. Elected on the first count with phenomenal 180,329 first preference votes #ep14 pic.twitter.com/3sYsbnHF9Y
— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) May 26, 2014

Crowley said he will battle to get a deal on Ireland's debt when he returns to the European Parliament. Earlier in the day, he also backed party leader, Michael Martin to lead Fianna Fáil into the general election.

"The biggest thing for the next parliament is to force a deal on the banking debt, the Government says it will get it, the Parliament says we shouldn't be paying it all. I think we have the support of other countries on this and we can force it through by refusing to back other things," he said.

The next count in Ireland South is expected to be announced at 6pm, with the distribution of Crowley's surplus.

Vote count in order of number of votes

Brian Crowley (Fianna Fáil) – 180,329

Liadh Ní Riada (Sinn Féin) – 125,309

Seán Kelly (Fine Gael) – 83,520

Simon Harris (Fine Gael) – 51,483

Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) – 47,453

Diarmuid O'Flynn (Independent) – 30,323

Phil Prendergast (Labour Party) – 30,317

Kieran Hartley (Fianna Fáil) – 29,987

Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) - 27,860

Theresa Heaney (Catholic Democrats) - 13,569