THE FIRST MEMBER of the European Parliament for Ireland has been elected – and it’s Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness.

The serving MEP was again successful in the Midlands North West constituency, and exceeded the quota on the first count.

The quota to be reached was 118,986 and McGuinness received 134,630 votes.

McGuinness thanked the electorate of Midlands North-West for the “resounding mandate” she received.

“I am deeply honoured and humbled by the size of the mandate I have received,” she said.

I feel a great sense of responsibility. I take it as a signal of approval for the work I have put in over the last five years, from agriculture and food, to the environment to my work on Brexit and a whole range of other issues.

And I want to assure those who have voted for me, and the entire electorate, that there will be no let up on my efforts over the next five years.

She said she was “quietly confident” that her colleague, Maria Walsh, would join her in the new Parliament. “That would mark a tremendous achievement for a new, energetic candidate who has a great political future ahead of her,” she said.

McGuinness said in the next couple of days the shape of the new European Parliament will emerge and will determine how effectively the Parliament can be in the years ahead.

She said that Brexit has become more complicated and worrying in the last week.

“We remain committed to the withdrawal agreement and expect the incoming leadership of the Conservative Party to show real leadership and chart a course for the U.K. out of this impasse.

“The art of compromise, an essential ingredient for successful politics, has unfortunately been downgraded and viewed as a sign of weakness rather than a sign of strength in the current disruptive political environment, and that will be an even deeper challenge than heretofore,” she said.

“And an early and critically important issue for the new Parliament will be to successfully complete negotiations for the new Common Agriculture Policy for the period beyond 2020.”

She’ll serve another five-year term in parliament, with the numbers currently indicating a close race to join her in the constituency.

Looking to also win a seat are Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, independent Luke Ming Flanagan, Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh, Green Saoirse McHugh and independent Peter Casey.

The results currently stand as follows:

You can find all the results as each count comes in on our European Elections site here.