'Monumental cock-up': Limerick's Willie O'Dea slams alphabetical order error in General Election

LIMERICK City TD Willie O'Dea has described a polling card error which saw some General Election candidates' names not appear in alphabetical order as a "monumental cock up".

The veteran Fianna Fail deputy, first elected to the Dail in 1982, said while he is upset that this happened, he does not think it will impact the outcome of the election on the four-seater.

Mr O'Dea is one of the TDs impacted by the order error.

Ahead of the first ballot boxes being opened this Saturday morning, deputy returning officer Vincent Murray confirmed the returning officer Rita Considine was aware of the error and had considered it, but is satisfied the count should proceed

READ MORE: Returning officer happy for Limerick City count to proceed despite 'error' on ballot paper

Mr O'Dea, who is bidding to return to the top of the Limerick City poll also confirmed he would not challenge any result so long as he is elected.

Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan - also impacted - described the alphabetical error as "an absolute shambles", and also homed in on claims that many people voting in the city did not receive their polling cards in time for election day.

"A number of issues cropped up in the last week or so. Polling cards were not sent out to people. I know in certain parts of the city, particularly working class areas, no polling card arrived or they arrived on polling day itself. It's absolutely scandalous. A lot of people don't realise they can vote without a polling card. So I imagine if turnout is depressed in some of those areas, it is down to the whoever is in charge of issuing these," he said.

Mr Quinlivan, polltopper in 2020, said he does not matter where he finishes in the running order this time.

"I don't care if I win by a single vote. I have a running mate (Senator Paul Gavan), I want him to do well. It's why we have two people running here. Topping the poll is not important to me. If you don't get the seats, you don't form a government and that's what we want to do. If I win the last seat by one vote, then it's fine by me," the Sinn Fein man added.

Reacting to the exit poll on Friday night which put Sinn Fein ahead of both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael in terms of first preference votes, Mr Quinlivan actually believes his party's vote might even be higher.

"We have to be careful. The last exit poll in 2020 had us two points below that. So I think we might be slightly higher than what it says. The response on the doors particularly in the last two weeks was incredibly strong. We seem to be doing well in some of the obxes we weren't epxecting to," he said.

"But significantly, the exit poll last night was the lowest poll ever recorded for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Whatever way people voted, they didn't vote for the Government."

Fine Gael TD Kieran O'Donnell did not return a request for comment from Limerick Live.

But one of his core supporters, Castletroy-based councillor Peter Doyle says he does not think the alphabetical order will make a difference.

"I think most people like myself looked at the pictures and picked the candidates off the pictures. I think now there are a lot of pictures on the ballot paper, it won't be that significant," he predicted.

"In fairness looking at the tallies this morning, both O'Dea and O'Donnell are flying. They weren't affected by it," the councillor concluded.