The voters of Dublin have chosen Gay Mitchell (Fine Gael), Proinsias De Rossa (Labour) and Joe Higgins (Socialist Party) as their three new MEP’s on June 5th. The media has been full of comment of winners and losers, victors and vanquished, the disappointed and forlorn. Her is my perspective on the outcome in the Dublin Euro constituency:
| 2004 Election | % Share of Poll | 2009 Election | % Share of Poll | |
| Electorate | 821,723 |
| 812,465 |
|
| Valid Poll | 421,897 |
| 406,630 |
|
| Quota | 84,380 |
| 101,658 | |
| Fine Gael Mitchell | | | | |
| Fianna Fail Ryan Brady Byrne | | | | |
| Labour De Rossa Bacik | 54,344 40,707 | 13% 10% | 83,471 | 21% |
| Green McKenna deBurca | 40,445 | 9% | 19,086 | 5% |
| Socialist Higgins | 23,218 | 6% | 50,510 | 12% |
| Sinn Fein McDonald | 60,395 | 14% | 47,928 | 12% |
| Libertas Simons | 13,514 | 3% | ||
| Independents McKenna Sweeney Despard Price Prenderville Doonan | 5,352 4,813 2,071 1,853 | 2% 1% <1% <1% | 17,521 3,583 | 4% 1% |
Fine Gael
I speculated that if Mitchell obtained 100,000 votes that would be a real breakthrough in Dublin because they never surpassed 90,000 votes heretofore and are poorly organised and poorly represented in several parliamentary constituencies. This election marks real progress. Fine Gael now has 334 council seats throughout Ireland and 12 on Dublin City Council, a gain of 2.
Fianna Fail
A drop from 22% to 18% and a rout in the local elections and two by-elections is the reflection of a very angry electorate, many suffering severely as a consequence of the economic downturn and poor government economic management. Ryan is a well respected politician but he bore the ire of the voters. His running mate is completing a very successful year as Lord Mayor of Dublin. The number of councillors in Dublin has dropped from 12 to 6 and by over 100 throughout the country to 213.
Labour
Great strides in the local elections cannot mask a 2% drop in Euro support but De Rossa did well as a solo candidate. While he has service in the European Parliament since 1989 he is not universally known throughout the county. Labour captured a third of the Dublin city vote in the local elections and are the largest party in Dublin City Council with 19 seats.
Greens
They are suffering the consequences of being a coalition partner in a thoroughly unpopular government and also lost all of its 9 council seats in Dublin.
Sinn Fein
The 2004 vote was a high watermark that was not sustainable in 2009. They lost 3 of their 10 seats on Dublin City Council.
Socialist Party
Higgins more than doubled his vote but is this surprising when the Live Register exceeds 400,000? He is regarded as being very committed to his particular perspective.
Libertas
Rejected by the electorate following an anaemic campaign by Simons. The upstart organization had a substantial seat target across Europe but managed to have only one outgoing French MEP re-elected. Its tears for the great vision.
Independents
McKenna’s star is on the wane and she is jaded. The promise she presented as a Green Party candidate failed to inspire.
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