Social Democrats election candidate Elisa O’Donovan, who lost out on a seat in Limerick, has said she is considering her “options” in relation to possible action over an error on the ballot paper.
Ms O’Donovan, a councillor in the city, was among three candidates whose names were further down the paper than they should have been.
The surnames on the ballot papers were not all in alphabetical order, as is required under electoral law.
There have been instances in past elections where candidates have changed their names to appear further up the ballot paper in the apparent hope of gaining more votes.
Ms O’Donovan came fifth in the four-seat constituency.
Labour Party candidate Conor Sheehan – who was about 600 votes ahead of Ms Donovan after the last count – took the fourth seat in the constituency.
Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea, Kieran O’Donnell of Fine Gael and Maurice Quinlivan were the other successful candidates.
The ballot paper error saw the names of Mr Quinlivan and another candidate, Dean Quinn of The Irish People, incorrectly placed ahead of Mr O’Dea, Mr O’Donnell and Ms O’Donovan.
Ms O’Donovan confirmed on Monday she is “looking at my options” when asked if she was considering taking some form of action as a result of the error. She suggested her party would issue a statement on her behalf later this week.
Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan was asked about the situation on RTÉ radio on Monday morning and whether his party would mount a challenge to the result.
He paid tribute to Ms O’Donovan’s “very strong campaign” and said: “If there’s any dispute around these issues that’s a matter for the candidate and their election agent.”
Mr O’Callaghan said it will be “be their call to make”.
He also said: “I do think it points to, in a general sense, it would be better if the alphabetical order on the ballot paper was just randomised.
“It would stop this business of people dropping ‘Os’ from their surnames and whatnot. I think that is something that the Electoral Commission should look at for future elections.”
The Labour Party’s successful candidate, Mr Sheehan, said during the same broadcast that his name was “at the very bottom of the ballot paper so I didn’t even notice it when I went to vote”.
He said it was “a basic administrative error and it shouldn’t have happened and I can’t understand how it wasn’t proofed properly”.
Put to him that the Social Democrats could challenge his election, he replied: “The only thing I could say is that on the final count my election was very decisive.”
He said Ms O’Donovan “ultimately came fifth” and “that’s beyond doubt. It’s very clear that I took the fourth seat by a considerable margin in the end.”
Mr Sheehan added that any candidate “is of course perfectly entitled to a challenge”.
The Irish Times has contacted the Limerick City returning officer for comment.
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