Limerick's Maurice Quinlivan 'not too worried' about losing polltopper title

SINN FEIN TD Maurice Quinlivan says he is “not too worried” about not topping the poll in Limerick - being elected is all that matters.

The Stenson Park man tumbled from the dizzy heights of the 2020 election when he topped the poll to third place.

But he still comfortably retained his seat, smashing through the quota with over 800 votes to share.

The later elimination of other candidates whose transfers would have been more sympathetic to Mr Quinlivan was the factor which pushed Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell into second place.

READ MORE: Consultation opens on proposal to open Limerick city centre bus lane for Christmas

Indeed, it was Cllr Sarah Beasley - a candidate from Aontu - a party formed following a Sinn Fein split - who afforded Mr Quinlivan a transfer of 851 to see him across the line.

“I'm not too worried about being the poll topper, I was just worried about retaining the Sinn Fein seat which we have done here comfortably,” said the TD, who was first elected to the Dail in 2016.

“There were no doubts as the boxes opened here that we were going to be elected. It just took a long time. I’m happy. It's a great result, I just want to thank everybody in my campaign team, my family, my friends, who came out and canvassed for me in a difficult election,” he said.

“I want to thank all the people who came out and gave me a first preference or a preference down the line. It’s an honour and a privilege and I always feel humbled,” he said.

As for the future shape of the Government, Mr Quinlivan said he feels the people who voted for his own Sinn Fein party should be “respected”.

“The historic thing to come out of this election was the vote that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael got. The lowest vote share ever. I know people came out and voted for change. Sixty percent of people didn’t vote for the Government. Especially the younger people who voted in huge numbers for Sinn Fein,” said the deputy, who was re-elected after count 13.

While his vote fell from the dizzy polltopping heights of 11,006 in February 2020, on this occasion Mr Quinlivan had a running mate in the shape of Senator Paul Gavan.

The Castleconnell man bowed out at count number seven.

No doubt Sinn Fein will be pleased that their transfer discipline remains iron-clad, with Senator Gavan transferring 73% of his votes to his running mate.

It gave Mr Quinlivan a boost of 1,151 votes.

Mr Quinlivan pointed out that it is his 20th year contesting elections in Limerick, starting in the 2004 local elections for the old City Council

He missed out then, and in the 2007 General Election, but it was third time lucky when he was elected to council in 2009. Five years later, he topped the poll on the northside in the first election for the merged local authority.

In 2016, he was elected to the Dail and has held his seat since.