North-West count: Fianna Fáil put a brave face on its failure to recapture two European Parliament seats in the North-West constituency last night, when the party's sitting MEP and early "no hoper", Mr Seán Ó Neachtain, was returned.
After two tense days, Fine Gael also held on to its seat with the election of Senator Jim Higgins, while Sligo-Leitrim TD, Ms Marian Harkin, replaces Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon as the independent MEP for the region.
Mr Pearse Doherty, who was elected to Donegal County Council on Sunday, said his performance was a "fantastic result" for Sinn Féin, regardless of whether he won a seat or not.
"I took in over 65,000 first preferences, reached almost 86,000 votes, and this challenges the myth about Sinn Féin and transfers", Mr Doherty said.
During his election speech, he vowed he would be targeting Donegal South-West in "three years' time" - a reference to the next general election.
None of the three successful candidates reached the quota, and all had to wait until the final fifth count shortly after 6 p.m. to be declared elected by returning officer, Mr Kieran McDermott.
On the platform, Mr Ó Neachtain and his unsuccessful colleague, Minister of State Dr Jim McDaid, appeared to bury their differences.
Mr Ó Neachtain had not been the choice of his party headquarters. He had to take on junior minister and Galway West colleague, Mr Frank Fahey, to gain the nomination at a postponed selection convention earlier this year in Roscommon.
"We had tensions, but they were surface tensions because we (the McDaid vote) transferred 52 per cent to Seán and I'm proud of that," Dr McDaid said, referring to the candidates' campaign dispute about canvassing territory.
Many government parties had taken a beating in the European elections, and Fianna Fáil "would be back", he said, to loud groans from some of the audience.
"In this county and country today there are a lot of people worse off than Jim McDaid," he continued.
He thanked his team, his girlfriend, Siobhán, his extended family and those who had driven him 196,000 miles, or the equivalent of "two-thirds the way around the world", on the campaign trail in the nine-county constituency.
He would "do it again", because the experience had been worth it, Dr McDaid said, and he elicited one of the loudest roars when he thanked the "women who lent us their husbands, and the husbands who lent us their wives" for the canvassing effort.
Speaking after her election, Ms Harkin warned of a "change in the political landscape", and said that "those who fail to recognise this will fail to manage it".
Five years ago, during the last European election, the north-west region had returned over 100,000 votes for independents, the former maths teacher noted, and since then it had elected five independent TDs.
The electorate had instigated change, she said, and she also extended congratulations to Ms Kathy Sinnott, elected MEP in the South constituency.
Fellow independent candidate, Dr Marie Hainsworth, who was nominated by the North-West women's network, said she was delighted with her 3,000 first preferences. She had stood to highlight women's human rights, and those issues were still there, she said.
The success of Fine Gael's Mr Higgins was greeted by the arrival of party leader, Mr Enda Kenny, in the count centre.
As Mr Kenny was ushered in, a Fine Gael scrum developed amid roars of "Up Mayo!" which almost toppled the RTÉ/TV3 broadcasting podium .
Paying tribute to the manual voting system, Mr Higgins said: "I genuinely believe that this system should be retained as it is a part of what we are, it is transparent, open and something we should be reluctant to relinquish."
Paying tribute to his running mate, Ms Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, who had polled over 41,000 first preferences, and to former Fine Gael MEP, Mr Joe McCartin, who had represented the area for 25 years, Mr Higgins also commiserated with the candidates who hadn't succeeded, saying his "heart went out " to Ms Scallon. Having lost his seat in the last general election, he had "been there and worn the T-shirt."
He reserved his warmest tribute for party leader, Mr Kenny, who, he said, had been faced with the task of "trying to refloat the Titanic" when he took over the Fine Gael leadership.
It was quite clear that Mr Kenny's leadership was "nothing short of inspirational", Mr Higgins said.
