Provisions of the Electoral Acts which require some prospective candidates to get the assent of 30 citizens before delivering nomination papers are being challenged in the High Court by a Limerick college lecturer, Mr Denis Riordan.
Mr Riordan, of Clonconane, Redgate, yesterday secured leave to challenge, in judicial review proceedings, parts of Sections 44, 46 and 52 of the Electoral Act 1992, as amended by the Electoral Act 2002.
He said the matter was urgent as he wished to run as a candidate in the forthcoming general election in the Limerick East constituency and nominations closed on Friday.
Mr Justice McKechnie granted leave to bring the proceedings and returned the matter to tomorrow. He said this did not indicate the case would be heard then.
In his proceedings, Mr Riordan says Article 16 of the Constituency provides that every citizen who is aged 21 "and who is not placed under disability of incapacity by this Constitution or by law" is eligible for membership of the Dáil.
He argues the statutory requirement for a candidate to get the assent of 30 people before delivery of their nomination papers is "invidiously discriminatory" in that some candidates are not required to fulfil this requirement while others must.