Fine Gael surges in election romp

With the election of Alan Kelly in Ireland South, Labor won three seats in the European Parliament, the same number as Fianna F_il. Fine Gael won four seats in Europe.
The drop in support for Brian Cowen’s party in the local elections was greater in the four local authorities in Dublin than in most of the other 30 city and county councils.
Fianna F_il’s governing coalition partners, the Greens, also suffered a meltdown, losing all nine of their local authority seats in the capital. The outcome marked a sweeping shift in the political mix in Dublin.
The performances of smaller socialist parties and a number of left-wing independents now means there is a strong left-leaning presence on all the authorities when Labor and Sinn F