The Electoral Commission has decided to reprint the ballot sheets for the European Parliament elections after the withdrawal of Cyrus Engerer's candidature following a court judgment finding him guilty of distributing pornography.

A delegation from the commission, accompanied by representatives of the political parties taking part in the election, visited the Government's printing press earlier today to find out whether the press has enough paper to reprint the number of ballot sheets needed for the election.

In the meeting to be held later, the Commission decide to re-print the ballot sheets - at a considerable cost of €150,000.

The presence of Engerer's name on the list would have possibly skewed the outcome of the election, and it was in this light that the Commission opted for the costlier option.

It has happened in the past that ballot sheets needed to be reprinted but, in this case, since the election is based on one district, the number of ballot sheets that needs to be reprinted is the full total, and not just one district, as happens in general elections.