Martin will not seek legal costs from Sinnott

The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, will not seek his substantial legal costs from disability rights campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott arising from her unsuccessful challenge to the result of the 2002 general election, the High Court heard yesterday.

However, the issue of who will pay the estimated €500,000 costs of the action has yet to be determined.

Ms Sinnott had contested the result in the Cork South Central constituency, where Mr Martin topped the poll.

Dealing with costs issues yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly noted that the Minister, in "a gesture of magnanimity", would not be seeking his costs against Ms Sinnott.

The judge also said he would allow Mr John Rogers SC, for Ms Sinnott, to bring an application seeking a contribution from the Minister for the Environment towards her costs.

The judge noted the application was unusual, if not unprecedented, but said he would allow it to be made. He listed it for hearing on March 11th.

He also directed that a similar application for a contribution could be brought by Mr Colm Mac Eochaidh, representing Mr Dan Boyle of the Green Party, who was a successful candidate in the Cork South Central constituency.

In reply to Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for Mr Martin, the judge said the Minister may also bring a similar motion if he considered it appropriate.

The judge said he noted that Mr Paul Coffey SC, for the Minister for the Environment, had opposed the bringing of such applications for contributions in circumstances where the Minister in question was not a party to the hearing of the petition and no allegations were made against him.

However, given that the application for a contribution was unprecedented and that the litigation itself was unusual and involved the testing for the first time of new legislation governing the control of expenditure in elections, he believed the parties were entitled to have their applications heard and determined.

Mr Gallagher asked the judge whether his client might bring a similar application for a contribution towards his costs if such an application was deemed appropriate.

Mr Justice Kelly said Mr Gallagher might do so, and adjourned the matter to March 11th.

The applications arise from the judge's dismissal of Ms Sinnott's challenge to the outcome of the May 2002 general election in Cork South Central where Mr Martin topped the poll and Ms Sinnott lost the battle for the last seat by six votes.

The 2002 poll was the first general election to be governed by the Electoral Acts 1997-2002, which were designed to regulate expenditure in elections and set down spending limits for candidates.

The election was further affected by a High Court decision of May 16th, 2002, that outgoing parliamentarians must include in their election spending statements expenses incurred from public funds. Ms Sinnott had alleged Mr Martin had spent beyond his electoral limit, but in a detailed judgment last month, Mr Justice Kelly rejected that claim.