European Elections 2024

By NOLLAIG MURPHY Development Officer, IRD Duhallow

IRD Duhallow is delighted to be one of the applicants awarded funding under the Department of Foreign Affairs 2024 Communicating Europe Initiative for the project Active and Inclusive Citizenship: Communicating Civic Engagement and Belonging to Our Young European Citizens. The purpose of this project is to deepen public awareness of the role the EU plays in our daily lives and this year’s project will have a specific emphasis on stimulating interest in European affairs in students attending post-primary schools across Duhallow. Europe Day is due to be marked on the 9th of May. This day commemorates the Schuman Declaration of 1950, an ambitious plan to ensure political cooperation in post-war Europe. It signifies the

beginnings as what we now know as the modern-day European Union. Friday the 7th of June is also a most important date as the Local and European Elections are due to be held. The European Elections will see millions of people across the European Union vote in Members of the European Parliament. The European Parliament represents the 450 million people that live in the European Union and the European Elections are one of the biggest democratic votes in the world. Direct elections to the European Parliament are held every five years. In June, the continent-wide elections, will see 720 members of the European Parliament elected. These MEPs will meet in plenary sessions, held in chambers in Strasbourg and Brussels. Each member state will elect different numbers of MEPs depending on their population size. For example,

Germany will elect 96 MEPs and France will elect 81 MEPs. Conversely Luxembourg and Malta will only elect 6 MEPs respectively. The European Parliament has approved a decision of the European Council increasing the number of seats in the Parliament for the next legislative term from 705 to 720. Ireland stands to gain one seat under this decision with the Northwest constituency to benefit. Laois and Offaly are being transferred into this area and Ireland’s total number of MEPs will increase to fourteen. Please see below map of the electoral divisions as found on the Electoral Commission’s website: www. electoralcommission.ie.

Every Vote Counts...

The members of the European Parliament represent the interests of EU citizens at European Level. The European Union as we know it has been built over many years, with hundreds of millions of EU citizen’s interests now represented in the parliament. The workload of MEPs involves work on parliamentary committees, voting in plenary sessions and engaging with constituents within their own home countries. MEPs are divided up into a number of committees, in order to prepare for the larger parliamentary plenary meetings. There are approximately 20 of these committees, which can consist of up to 88 MEPs. These committees deal with a myriad of issues for example Justice, Foreign Affairs or Women’s Rights. During committee meetings MEPs review reports and draw

up proposals. Also, by monitoring the proper use of EU budgets, MEPs play a significant role in the oversight of EU activities. Voting is always important, whether elections are taking place at Local, National, or European level. They provide excellent opportunities to have your say on topics that impact you. The European Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution. It will adopt policies and laws which impact everyone over the next five years, therefore we should keep in mind the following quote which became famous during a recent American Presidential race, “There is no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter”.

Candidates Running for the Ireland South Constituency

Below is a list of candidates who have announced they are running for election in the Ireland South Constituency, please note this list was compiled at the time of publication and therefore updates may apply. The final list of candidates will be set out on the constituency ballot paper on Friday the 7th of June.

Billy Kelleher Fianna Fáil (Incumbent MEP for Ireland South)

Seán Kelly Fine Gael (Incumbent MEP for Ireland South)

Grace O’Sullivan Green Party (Incumbent MEP for Ireland South)

Mick Wallace Independents 4 Change (Incumbent MEP for Ireland South)

Kathleen Funchion Sinn Féin

Paul Gavan Sinn Féin

Niamh Hourigan Labour Party

Susan Doyle Social Democrats

Patrick Murphy Aontú

John Mullins Fine Gael

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú Fianna Fáil

Cian Prendiville People Before Profit Solidarity

Lorna Bogue An Rabharta Glas

Mary Fitzgibbon Independent

Michael McNamara Independent

Eddie Punch Independent Ireland

Derek Blighe Ireland First

Ross Lahive The Irish People

Una McGurk Independent

Graham De Barra Independent

Michael Leahy Irish Freedom Party

Christopher Doyle Independent

Ciaran O’Riordan Independent

are you registered to vote? To check visit: www.checktheregister.ie