Munster (European Parliament constituency)

Munster
European Parliament constituency

Shown within Ireland
Member state Ireland
Created 1979
Dissolved 2004
MEPs 5 (1979–94)
4 (1994–2004)
Sources

Munster was a constituency of the European Parliament in Ireland between 1979 and 2004. It elected 5 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the elections of 1979, 1984 and 1989 and 4 MEPs in the 1994 and 1999 elections using the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

History and boundaries

The constituency was created in 1979 for the first direct elections to the European Parliament. It comprised County Clare, County Cork, County Kerry, County Limerick, County Tipperary and County Waterford from the historic province of Munster including the cities of Cork, Limerick and Waterford.[1] It was abolished under the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2004 and succeeded by the new South constituency.[2]

MEPs

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for Munster 19792009
Parl.ElectionMember
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
Member
(Party)
1st 1979[3] T. J. Maher
(Ind)
Tom O'Donnell
(FG)
Eileen Desmond
(Lab)
Jerry Cronin[4]
(FF)
Noel Davern
(FF)
1981[5] Seán Treacy
(Lab)
2nd 1984[6] Tom Raftery
(FG)
Sylvester Barrett
(FF)
Gene Fitzgerald
(FF)
3rd 1989[7] John Cushnahan
(FG)
Pat Cox
(PD)
Paddy Lane
(FF)
4th 1994[8] Brian Crowley
(FF)
Pat Cox
(Ind)
Gerry Collins
(FF)
4 seats
from 1994
5th 1999[9]
6th 2004 Constituency abolished. See South

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.

1999 election

1999 European Parliament election: Munster[9]
Party Candidate % 1st Pref Count 1 Count 2Count 3Count 4Count 5Count 6
Fianna Fáil Brian Crowley 34.4 154,195          
Fianna Fáil Gerry Collins 18.5 83,106 117,783        
Independent Pat Cox 14.3 63,954 76,203 85,257 88,357 95,004  
Fine Gael John Cushnahan 10.3 46,100 49,009 50,496 51,483 53,497 78,232
Labour Party Paula Desmond 6.3 28,270 34,002 36,884 40,746 46,887 52,831
Fine Gael Jim Corr 7.0 31,363 35,026 37,556 38,693 40,669  
Sinn Féin Martin Ferris 6.5 29,060 31,783 34,435 36,534    
Green Party Ben Nutty 2.3 10,257 12,330 13,643      
Natural Law Stewart Luck 0.3 1,267 1,602 1,897      
Independent Denis Riordan 0.2 1,007 1,125 1,268      
Electorate: 823,008   Valid: 448,579   Spoilt: 13,724 (2.9%)   Quota: 89,716   Turnout: 462,303 (56.2%)

    All sitting MEPs were re-elected.

    1994 election

    1994 European Parliament election: Munster[8]
    Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
    Fianna Fáil Brian Crowley 84,463 23.2 1 1
    Fianna Fáil Gerry Collins 49,677 13.6 2 9
    Fine Gael John Cushnahan 36,906 10.1 3 12
    Independent Pat Cox 27,920 7.7 4 12
    Progressive Democrats Desmond O'Malley 31,674 8.7
    Fine Gael Tom Raftery 31,250 8.6
    Labour Party Jim Kemmy 25,486 7.0
    Independent Nora Bennis 18,424 5.1
    Fianna Fáil Paddy Lane 19,369 5.3
    Democratic Left Kathleen Lynch 15,573 4.3
    Green Party Dan Boyle 10,033 2.8
    Workers' Party Martin O'Regan 6,270 1.7
    Sinn Féin Kieran McCarthy 5,171 1.4
    Natural Law Stewart Luck 890 0.2
    Independent Conor Moloney 858 0.2
    Independent Denis Riordan 607 0.2
    Electorate: 755,176   Valid: 364,571   Spoilt: 5,319 (1.4%)   Quota: 72,915   Turnout: 369,890 (49.0%)

    The constituency lost a seat and T. J. Maher and Gene Fitzgerald retired. Pat Cox resigned from the Progressive Democrats (PD) but succeeded in narrowly beating the PD leader Desmond O'Malley for the last seat.

    1989 election

    1989 European Parliament election: Munster[7]
    Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
    Progressive Democrats Pat Cox 85,558 17.3 1 1
    Fianna Fáil Gene Fitzgerald 64,139 13.0 2 9
    Independent T. J. Maher 55,499 11.2 3 10
    Fine Gael John Cushnahan 43,326 8.8 4 10
    Fianna Fáil Paddy Lane 41,152 8.3 5 10
    Labour Party Eileen Desmond 29,979 6.1
    Fine Gael Tom Raftery 43,528 8.8
    Fianna Fáil Jackie Fahey 37,290 7.5
    Independent Patrick Ryan 30,934 6.3
    Workers' Party Joe Sherlock 26,828 5.4
    Independent Joe Noonan 15,975 3.2
    Labour Party Michael Ferris 13,843 2.8
    Independent George Salter Townshend 2,577 0.5
    Independent William O'Shea 2,011 0.4
    Independent Abbey of the Holy Cross Fitzsimons 1,794 0.4
    Electorate: 703,913   Valid: 494,433   Spoilt: 10,786 (2.1%)   Quota: 82,406   Turnout: 505,219 (71.8%)

    Tom Raftery of Fine Gael lost his seat to Pat Cox of the Progressive Democrats.

    1984 election

    1984 European Parliament election: Munster[6]
    Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
    Independent T. J. Maher 55,079 16.1 1 3
    Fine Gael Tom O'Donnell 53,832 15.7 2 5
    Fine Gael Tom Raftery 44,236 12.9 3 6
    Fianna Fáil Sylvester Barrett 47,622 13.9 4 7
    Fianna Fáil Gene Fitzgerald 43,036 12.6 5 7
    Fianna Fáil Noel Davern 42,863 12.5
    Labour Party Eileen Desmond 26,162 7.6
    Workers' Party Joe Sherlock 17,304 5.1
    Sinn Féin Richard Behal 12,829 3.7
    Electorate: 691,076   Valid: 342,963   Spoilt: 6,216 (1.8%)   Quota: 57,161   Turnout: 349,179 (50.5%)

    Eileen Desmond (substituted by Seán Treacy in 1981) lost the Labour Party seat to Fine Gael, while Noel Davern lost his seat to his Fianna Fáil running mates.

    1979 election

    1979 European Parliament election: Munster[3]
    Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
    Independent T. J. Maher 86,208 20.0 1 1
    Fine Gael Tom O'Donnell 46,820 10.9 2 8
    Labour Party Eileen Desmond[5] 53,614 12.5 3 8
    Fianna Fáil Jerry Cronin[4] 43,439 10.1 4 9
    Fianna Fáil Noel Davern 37,647 8.7 5 9
    Fianna Fáil Michael Herbert 34,034 7.9
    Fine Gael Alan Dukes 21,510 5.0
    Fianna Fáil Timothy O'Connor 29,595 6.9
    Fine Gael Jim O'Keeffe 25,664 6.0
    Fine Gael John Blair 21,615 5.0
    Fianna Fáil Seán French 16,655 3.9
    Sinn Féin (Workers' Party) Michael Dunphy 11,526 2.7
    Independent Michael B Crowe 2,268 0.5
    Electorate: 641,625   Valid: 430,595   Spoilt: 14,597 (3.3%)   Quota: 71,766   Turnout: 445,192 (69.4%)

    See also

    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. 1 2 "1979 European Parliament election – Munster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
    4. 1 2 Jerry Cronin resigned on 23 May 1984 and his seat was vacant at dissolution.
    5. 1 2 Eileen Desmond resigned on 7 July 1981 and was substituted by Seán Treacy (LAB / PES) on 9 July 1981.
    6. 1 2 "1984 European Parliament election – Munster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
    7. 1 2 "1989 European Parliament election – Munster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
    8. 1 2 "1994 European Parliament election – Munster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
    9. 1 2 "1999 European Parliament election – Munster constituency". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 March 2009.

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