Former RTÉ correspondent Ciaran Mullooly has said he hates election counts, as he awaited the first official indication of his performance in the Midlands-North-West constituency.
Mr Mullooly is considered to be in with a chance of picking up the fifth and final MEP seat in the region, pending favourable transfers from eliminated candidates.
Running with the Independent Ireland party, he said he is “very pleased” with his election campaign.
Speaking at the TF Royal Theatre count centre in Co Mayo, Mr Mullooly admitted he was nervous as he said he was still “waiting to see how the transfers are going to go”.
Asked if he believed he could claim one of the five seats in the constituency, he said he was “not convinced about the final outcome”.
The former RTÉ Midlands correspondent said: “I’m nervous as hell, I have been throughout the day. I’m waiting to see how the cookie will crumble.”
He added: “I’m here to hopefully share in the celebrations – or commiserate with the winners and losers and see how it goes.”
First results in Midlands-North-West are not expected until between 8pm and 9pm on Monday, according to the returning officer.
Counting of ballots in Ireland’s European Parliament elections got under way on Sunday after votes were cast on Friday.
In Midlands-North-West there are 27 candidates fighting for five seats in the massive electoral region which spans 15 counties.
It seems assured that Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen and Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh will take seats.
It leaves the former journalist scrapping it out with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as well as the Sinn Féin candidates and Aontu leader Peadar Toibin for a spot among the remaining two seats.
Mr Mullooly believes he can claim a seat if he manages to stay ahead of Mr Toibin throughout the count, adding that he was particularly watching Sinn Féin’s performance.
He added: “I’m hopeful we can get those critical transfers over the next two days.”
Mr Mullooly said a change of leadership within Fine Gael was a “crucial change of tone” for the election, particularly over the party’s toughened stance on immigration.
“But I have a word of warning for Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and anyone else in terms of this, this is very different to the general election.”
He added: “I would certainly feel that in a general election we could see a very different result.”
Asked if he would consider running in a general election in the future, he said: “No, not happening.”
Mr Mullooly said he sought election as an MEP because agriculture is “run from Europe”.
Midlands-North-West spans 15 counties and the candidate described it as a “crazy constituency”.
He said: “I’m only one candidate, but I really think that the constituency should be looked at again, in terms of the make-up.
“You know, do we have to have just three constituencies – could we have four constituencies which would be more representative of the regions?
“I think that’s badly needed. I think there’s a disconnect there and maybe the voters have spoken by not turning out on that.”
Mr Mullooly, who would have been tasked with covering several election counts throughout his career with RTE News, said he had deliberately avoided the count centre until Monday evening.
Asked if he missed covering count centres for the news, he said: “I don’t, to be honest with you.”
He added: “I hate counts, I hate election counts. I have done for years.
“I think, particularly going back to places like St Joseph’s Hall in Portlaoise where we went on for five days with Laois-Offaly on more than one occasion. So I’ve deliberately stayed away for the last two days.”
