• 483,113 votes for Sinn Féin in the EU election • 151,316 votes more than in the 2009 EU election... Free article

WHEN Matt Carthy was elected as the MEP for Midlands North West late on Tuesday 27 May, he completed an all-Ireland team of four MEPs, joining Martina Anderson (Six Counties), Liadh Ní Riadh (Ireland South) and Lynn Boylan (Dublin) as Sinn Féin representatives in the European Parliament. Free article

SINN FÉIN is now the largest party in the Six Counties following the May local government elections. Free article

FOUR MEPs, 260+ councillors, almost half a million votes, and becoming the largest political party in first preference vote terms in Ireland for the first time in almost 100 years. Free article

The Sinn Féin vote more than doubled, Paul Donnelly topping the poll on first-preferences and Paul Hogan more than doubled first-preferences taking third place in a challenge to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Free article

Behind the scenes, An Phoblacht talks to Sinn Féin National Director of Elections Brian Tumilty Free article

Gerry Adams talks to An Phoblacht about the election results and what now for Sinn Féin Free article

ON Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Sinn Féin continued to out-perform every other party across the island of Ireland by multiples from March. At the height of the election counts, “Sinn Féin” and “An Phoblacht” were trending in Ireland. Free article

THE European and local election campaigns in the North took place against the previous 22 months of impasse in the political process and instability on the ground. The agenda for political unionism has been set throughout by Orange and unionist extremists, and that has resulted in both the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party failing to unambiguously support power-sharing and partnership government. Free article

THE HEADLINES said “Sinn Féin surge ahead”; “Sinn Féin reign”; “Shinners sweep the capital”; “The arrival of Sinn Féin as a genuine heavyweight”; “Huge swing to Sinn Féin”. We could go on with the superlatives used in news headlines over the first three days of vote counting in the EU and local elections but . . . we would be missing an important point. Free article

SINN FÉIN has rocked the vote across the island. Almost half a million EU voters have made Sinn Féin the biggest party on the island of Ireland. Free article

WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE the scene at the Irish Independent’s headquarters on Saturday 24 May as news broke of a seismic shift in the political landscape in the 26 Counties. Free article