DESPITE not going through on the first count in Limerick City, as many predicted, veteran TD Willie O’Dea is confident of his chances of retaining his seat and confident in his Fianna Fáil party to make a sweep of seats across today and tomorrow.
Deputy O’Dea gleaned the highest number of first preference votes in the first count at Limerick Racecourse today, falling just short of the 8,435 quota with 8,214 first preference votes.
He is followed closely by Kieran O’Donnell of Fine Gael on 6,133 and Sinn Féin’s Maurice Quinlivan on 5,936, which means the dogfight for the fourth city seat is now on.
Dee Ryan (FF) got 2,831 votes on the first round, Maria Byrne (FG) took 2,813, Elisa O’Donovan got 2,808, and Labour’s Conor Sheehan had 2,733.
Others tipped to take the seat, Independent Frankie Daly (2,034), Sarah Beasley of Aontú (1,977), and Green Party TD Brian Leddin (1,782), look to be falling short at this point as Dean Lillis (IND) and Michelle Hayes (IND) were eliminated.
Confident out in front, Willie O’Dea said he feels “fantastic” in current position, however cast a foreboding shadow over one element of yesterday’s vote.
“If I can strike one cautionary note on an otherwise joyous day, I’m unhappy with the turnout,” O’Dea said.
“My understanding is that the turnout here is something in the order of about 55 per cent or thereabouts. That means that out of every 20 Limerick with the right to vote, nine didn’t exercise that right.
“And what you see not just here in Limerick but nationally, is a gradual reduction in the turnout from election to election, and that does demonstrate a sort of erosion of confidence in democracy, which is very serious given the world.”
And despite the “monumental cock-up” on yesterday’s ballot which saw some names put out of the legally mandated alphabetic order on the city ballot papers, O’Dea says he won’t be making any legal challenge on the validity of the vote.
“It was an incredible cock-up, let’s call a spade a spade, how people didn’t seem to fully understand the alphabet, I can never get my head around. But the photographs were there and I don’t really think that where you appear in the ballot paper, if you’re not that far away from where you’d appear normally, would make any material difference anyway,” he said.
Making an early call for a Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition, O’Dea claimed that the Irish public yesterday voted for ‘stability’.
“My understanding around the country is that Fianna Fáil would be the biggest party, but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael between them will have almost enough, if not enough, to form a government on their own. So it shows you that the Irish people are conscious of the need for a stable government in these troubling times, and that’s the way they voted, and that’s the decision of the electorate,” he said.
The results in the city at the end of the first count are:
O’Dea, Willie – FF – 8,214
O’Donnell, Kieran – FG – 6,133
Quinlivan, Maurice – SF – 5,936
Ryan, Dee – FF – 2,831
Byrne, Maria – FG – 2,813
O’Donovan, Elisa – SD – 2,808
Sheehan, Conor – Lab – 2,733
Daly, Frankie – Ind – 2,034
Beasley, Sarah – Aon -1,977
Leddin, Brian – GP – 1,782
Gavan, Paul – SF -1,378
Quinn, Dean – IP – 965
Fahy, Ruairí – PBP – 720
Aherne, Esther – II – 688
Cleary, Melanie – IND – 636
Hayes, Michelle – Ind-394 (eliminated)
Lillis, Dean – Ind -132 (eliminated)
