The emergency department at University Hospital Limerick FILE PICTURE
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17 Mar 2026
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17 Mar 2026
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John Moran, pictured in the Limerick Count Centre this Saturday with Cailum Hedderman
THE FORMER secretary general at the Department of Finance John Moran has opened up a huge lead in the race to become Limerick's first directly elected mayor.
According to tallies just released at the count centre, Mr Moran has 12,160 first preference votes, with almost 70% of boxes across Limerick now polled.
Mr Moran is at 23% of the vote, ahead of Helen O'Donnell, who is at 8,567, according to the tallies.
Ms O'Donnell currently has 16% of the vote share.
In third place is Fianna Fail's Dee Ryan with 7,613 first preference votes and Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler is back in fourth with 6,503 votes.
READ MORE: Pitched battle at Limerick petrol pumps sees man hospitalised
Mr Moran is in the Limerick Count Centre, but declined to comment to media earlier this Saturday afternoon.
Earlier, veteran poll-watcher Joe Kemmy called the election for Mr Moran.
As it stands, the frontrunner has a lead of 3,593 over Ms O'Donnell.
Counting for the role of directly elected mayor isn't expected to kick off until Monday morning.
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