Carberry in strong field of runners and riders for EU seats
A record 27 candidates have been declared for the forthcoming European Parliament elections in the Midlands North West constituency, which includes County Meath.
Two of the those 27 candidates are county Meath residents, Aontu's Deputy Peadar Toibin and retired jockey Nina Carberry, who is running for Fine Gael.
Voting will take place on Friday 7th June.
Nominations for the European poll closed on Tuesday, with 74 candidates in total standing in all three Irish constituencies.
Midlands-North-West will have 27 candidates on the ballot – with five seats to fill – including two sitting MEPs and a number of high-profile candidates in ex-broadcaster Ciaran Mullooly, journalist, John Watters and businessman, Peter Casey.
The Midlands North West candidates include nine independents.
There are 23 candidates running in the four-seat Dublin constituency and a further 23 will contest the European election in the five-seat Ireland South constituency.
The Midlands- North West constituency consists of 15 counties across Connacht, Ulster and most of Leinster, including county Meath.
The current MEP's in this constituency are Colm Markey FG, Chris MacManus SF, Luke 'Ming' Flanagan Ind and Maria Walsh FG, with McManus, Flanagan and Walsh seeking re-election
Five MEPS will be returned in this election, following the additional allocation of an MEP for Ireland last year.
The Fianna Fail candidates in Midlands North West are Niall Blaney, Barry Cowen and Lisa Chambers, while Maria Walsh and Nina Carberry are running for Fine Gael.
Sinn Féin is fielding Chris McManus and Michelle Gildernew, while, Pauline O'Reilly is running for the Green Party and Brian O'Boyle is running for People Before Profit.
Aontu leader, Peadar Toibin is also in the race along with Rory Hearne for the Social Democrats and Fergal Landy for Labour.
Justin Barrett and James Reynolds are running for The National Party, Ciaran Mullooley for Independent Ireland, Margaret Alacoque Maguire for Ireland First, Anthony Cahill for the Irish People and Herman Kelly for the Irish Freedom Party.
The Independents in the race are Luke "Ming" Flanagan, Michelle Smith, John Waters, Dr Gerry Waters, Saoirse McHugh, Charlotte Keenan, Peter Casey, Daniel Pocock and Stephen Garland.
Carolyn Fahy who was among the nominees on Tuesday was the only person to withdraw their candidacy before Wednesday's midday deadline.
She had initially declared for the Party for Animal Welfare.