Letters from the North of Ireland’s Electoral Office warning people who consider themselves Irish that they would not be allowed to cast their vote in forthcoming elections were said to be ‘a mistake', the chief electoral officer said.

At least ten people received letters last month from the Electoral Office, which said their right to vote would be limited by their decision to identify themselves as Irish.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill branded the correspondence a "clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement" and said she had raised the issue directly with British Direct Ruler Karen Bradley.

She said the Electoral Office needed to take immediate steps to "repair the damage it caused. With this correspondence, - O’Neill added - the Electoral Office are riding roughshod over that agreement and warning that hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens in the north will be disenfranchised.”