'Ming' disappointed with lack of female candidates in Roscommon

MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan visited the count centre in Roscommon earlier this evening, where said he is pleased with the initial tallies in the European election.

“Some of them are loose enough, but my vote is up in Galway from 15% to 17%. The big, big success for me, if the tallies are correct, is Donegal. Apparently I'm averaging in around 20% there,” he said.

He said it looked like he topped the poll in Sligo and a close second in Leitrim.

“The big imponderable is the east side of the country. Kildare and Meath they make up 28% of the constituency and we have no information from there yet,” he said.

In terms of the local election, he expressed disappointment at the lack of female candidates in Roscommon.

“It looks like in the Roscommon Electoral Area that we are going to end up with six men. Sure, men are great, I’m a man myself but it would have been great to have a bit of variety,” he said. “I don’t think it is representative of what our county is about anymore.” And he called for a 50/50 split in terms of gender representation in politics.

He believes that a general election will be held after the budget.

“The current government will take money out of one of your pockets and put it in the other. You’ll go ‘hey I’ve new money in my left pocket, but you’ll want to check your right”.