Twenty-seven candidates in Euro race as local TD bids to become Offaly's first MEP
Fianna Fail's Cowen up against former jockey, Westminster MP, Rose of Tralee winner and retired RTE journalist
BARRY Cowen is continuing his campaign to be the first Offaly person in the European Parliament as polling day approaches on Friday, June 7.
The Fianna Fail TD is one of 27 candidates in the field for the five-seat Midlands North West constituency.
Three sitting members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are contesting the election, Mayo woman Maria Walsh (Fine Gael), the Roscommon Independent candidate (Luke 'Ming' Flanagan) and Sinn Fein's Chris MacManus from Sligo who was not elected at the last poll in 2019 but replaced party colleague Matt Carthy in 2020.
While Deputy Cowen's national profile will assist him in gathering votes in a sprawling European constituency which spans 15 counties from Laois up to Donegal, there is concern in the Fianna Fail camp that the party is running too many candidates.
The younger brother of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen is joined on the Fianna Fail ticket by two senators, Lisa Chambers, Mayo and Niall Blaney, Donegal.
Deputy Cowen topped the poll when party members voted in a selection contest and he was followed by Senator Blaney in second place.
Fianna Fail has not won a seat in the constituency since Donegal man Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher's success in 2009.
The Fine Gael party is pinning its hopes on Ms Walsh, a one-time Rose of Tralee winner, and surprise candidate Nina Carberry, the former jump jockey.
The selection of Ms Carberry, a married mother of two and Dancing with the Stars champion, was made when Fine Gael sought a high profile replacement for the 2019 poll topper Mairead McGuinness, who is now a European Commissioner.
Another prominent candidate in the field is the Aontu TD from Meath, Peadar Toibin, formerly a member of Sinn Fein.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein's second candidate is Michelle Gildernew, an MP for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency and previously Northern Ireland agriculture minister.
The newly formed Independent Ireland party also has a well known name on the ballot paper, Longford native and former RTE Midlands correspondent, Ciaran Mullooly.
Pauline O'Reilly, a senator and former councillor from Galway, is running for the Green Party.
Rory Hearne, a lecturer in Maynooth University, is the Social Democrats candidate while Clare native and Co Galway resident Fergal Landy is representing Labour.
Midlands North West comprises Offaly, Laois, Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath.
The 27 candidates are Barry Cowen, Niall Blaney and Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail), Maria Walsh MEP and Nina Carberry (Fine Gael), Michelle Gildernew and Chris MacManus MEP (Sinn Fein), Luke 'Ming' Flanagan MEP (Independent), Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party), Peadar Toibin (Aontu), Fergal Landy (Labour Party), Ciaran Mullooly (Independent Ireland), Rory Hearne (Social Democrats), Brian O'Boyle (People Before Profit), Hermann Kelly (Irish Freedom Party), Justin Barrett and James Reynolds (National Party), Margaret Maguire (Ireland First), Anthony Cahill (Irish People), Peter Casey (Independent), Stephen Garland (Independent), Charlotte Keenan (Independent), Saoirse McHugh (Independent), Daniel Pacock (Independent), Michelle Smith (Independent), Gerry Waters (Independent) and John Waters (Independent).
Irish and other EU citizens resident in Ireland and aged 18 or over can vote provided they are registered by May 20 next.
Ireland will elect 14 MEPs. The other constituencies are Dublin and South. There are 720 seats in the European Parliament and seats are allocated by national population with the biggest country Germany returning 96 and Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus electing six each.
The Irish political parties are aligned with different groupings in the parliament, which sits in Brussels and Strasbourg.
Fine Gael is part of the biggest group, the European People's Party, while Fianna Fail is a member of the third largest, Renew Europe. Sinn Fein is part of the Left group in the parliament, as is Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, who was campaigning in Tullamore on Tuesday (May 14).