First seat within FF's grasp but too close to call outcome for remaining two

North West count: Fianna Fáil seemed set to secure the first of three seats in the European North-West constituency last night…

North West count: Fianna Fáil seemed set to secure the first of three seats in the European North-West constituency last night as Independents Marian Harkin and Dana Rosemary Scallon, and Sinn Féin and Fine Gael were engaged in a battle royal for the second and third.

Ms Harkin topped the poll with 66,664 votes but Fianna Fail's sitting MEP Mr Seán Ó Neachtain, with 4,500 less, looked set to be elected first following the likely elimination of running mate Dr Jim McDaid. Dr McDaid conceded defeat during the afternoon, as tally results suggested his first preferences wouldn't be sufficient to elect him.

Sitting independent MEP Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon, defied opinion poll forecasts and exit poll estimates, and returned almost 57,000 first preferences.

As the first count results were announced last night at the Mount Errigal Hotel in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, some of her team suggested she would get transfers "from everywhere", including Sinn Féin and Fine Gael's Madeleine Taylor-Quinn.

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Ms Taylor-Quinn, who is based in Co Clare, performed better than anticipated, receiving 41,570 votes, just short of 10 per cent of the valid poll.

However, there were strong indications that Ms Taylor-Quinn's running mate, Mayo Senator Jim Higgins, might get less than 40 per cent of her transfers. Senator Higgins was almost 6,000 votes behind Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty. The supporters of Sligo-Leitrim Independent TD Ms Marian Harkin were hopeful she would be elected ahead of both Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.

Dr McDaid had not taken as many Sinn Féin second preferences as he would have hoped - something he anticipated a month ago when he criticised the continuing attacks on Sinn Féin by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell. While the strong performance of Sinn Féin candidate Pearse Doherty was generally acknowledged - he received 65,321 first preference votes - it was also noted that many of his transfers were going to Ms Scallon.

Mr John Browne, Ms Scallon's brother and campaign manager, denied that there had been an arrangement with Sinn Féin.

"We put the Irish flag on our literature", he joked.

However, he believed that Ms Scallon's concern about the impact of the European constitution would be shared by Mr Doherty's party.

"The important thing is that the opinion polls, and even RTÉ's exit poll released on Saturday, had Dana written off. Dana's vote never fell away, rural Ireland is not dead, and if two independents are elected for this region it will be quite significant", Mr Browne said.

"Fianna Fáil's Seán Ó Neachtain is also a decent man and he deserves to be returned", he added.

A hoarse Seán Ó Neachtain, afflicted with laryngitis, politely declined to take many congratulatory handshakes before the first count was declared by the returning officer, Mr Kieran McDermott. In the event, Mr Ó Neachtain received 62,085 first preference votes

The Spiddal schoolteacher admitted he felt "elated", while regretting that Dr McDaid had not taken a seat.

"Row, what row?" he responded, when asked by The Irish Times about the impact of the dispute he had with his own party to gain the nomination in the first place - and the subsequent spat over canvassing territory.

"I don't think about the row now, but I am not sorry about what we had to do", Mr Ó Neachtain said.

"I personally couldn't have done anything else when other people made decisions", he added in a oblique reference to party headquarters.

As a sitting MEP, he believed that the recognition factor had helped both himself and fellow parliamentarian Ms Scallon, while a 35,000 core vote in Co Galway had also provided him with a "tremendous base", he said.

Mr Ó Neachtain said he had also polled well in Roscommon - the county at the heart of his canvassing dispute - and in Leitrim and Sligo.

The party had no full tally for Mayo, he said, but there was talk among other parties that parts of Mayo had defied party strategists and voted with Dr McDaid.

The North-West constituency count continues in Letterkenny today.