'The quietest I've seen an election day in Limerick': Slow turnout as voting gets under way

EARLY turnouts were slow at polling stations across Limerick City this Friday morning, with one clerk saying: "It's the quietest I've ever seen it on an election day".

Voting in the 2025 Presidential Election got under way at 7am, with polling stations open until 10pm, as people decide who they want to become their next head of State - either Catherine Connolly, Heather Humphreys, or Jim Gavin, whose name remains on the ballot paper despite the suspension of his campaign earlier this month.

A cold and wet start to the day appeared to be keeping people away from the voting booths, with the percentage of people voting so far as low as just 2% in some parts of the city.

READ MORE: 'Golden ticket' - Thousands sign up for third-level courses across east Limerick

However, other parts of Limerick had seen their turnout climb to almost 10% as of 11 o'clock this Friday.

At Caherdavin Girls National School, turnout was at 4%.

Speaking outside the school, 20-year Coonagh man Ben Bastianelli was voting in his first President Election.

"It is your say at the end of the day. You're living in this country, and it matters what happens" said Ben, pictured below.

"It's a bit stupid," was his response when asked what he thought of people spoiling their vote - an idea which has gained some traction in the run up to polling day. "If you end up spoiling your vote, it won't do much in the long run. It ruins the whole process."

Majella Carroll of Woodview Park, who voted alongside her husband Sean and their granddaughter Rígan, 2, said: "It is very important to vote. As a woman, having watched down through history, and how hard women fought for the vote it is very important. I do think as a person who is going to represent our country over the world, it is very important to choose the right person."

For Annet Birabwa, pictured below, now living in Caherdavin, voting in the Presidential Election is especially important, given how the franchise is limited to Irish citizens only.

Annet, from Uganda, became a citizen of Ireland more than a decade ago.

"I'm very proud. I've lived here a long time, twenty years plus. Ireland is my country now. I have my kids here, I am going to age here, I've worked here. So this is very important. It's important to exercise your rights, and you're not doing that by spoiling your vote," she said.

Close to Caherdavin Girls' School, John F Kennedy National School was showing a turnout of between 8.8% and 9.9% as of around 10.30am this Friday morning.

Presiding officer Jim Baggott said the higher turnout was in no small part to people leaving Friday morning Mass at neighbouring Our Lady of the Rosary Church and having their say.

Despite this, one polling clerk at the school admitted it was the "quietest" she had seen it on an election day.

At the city centre polling station of St Michael's National School in Barrington Street, turnout ranged from 2% in one box to 7% in another.

As of 10.30am on Friday morning, turnout was between 2.4% and 5.8% at St Brigid's National School at Dublin Road.