Back to normal next week after a marathon session on the EP elections. Thanks for being patient. In the meantime, I’ll end where I started off with results from Ireland.

The EP election was held in Ireland as week ago last Friday.

The turnout was 57.6%. The EU is reporting the following results (2004 in brackets):

Fine Gael – 29.1%, 4 seats (27.8%, 5)
Fianna Fáil – 24.1%, 3 seats (29.5%, 4)
Labour – 13.9%, 3 seats (10.5%, 1)
Sinn Féin – 11.2%, 0 (11.1%, 1)
Independents – 1 seat (2 seats)
Socialist party – 1 seat (0 seats)

The analysis is the same as for the local elections (see previous post). The incumbent Fianna Fáil/Green coalition did very badly, especially when compared with the 2007 general election. The Greens were wiped out (and now have more deputies in the Dáil than local councillors throughout the state!). In the EP election, Fianna Fáil lost a seat to the Socialist party in Dublin. The Labour party picked up two seats outside Dublin. Sinn Féin failed to break through and they lost their Dublin seat.

The government easily survived a vote of no-confidence after the elections.