The Government has refused a request from Senator David Norris, of Trinity College, to take legal steps to ensure that over 700 graduates of the university, who were disenfranchised because of a misplaced file, can be allowed to vote if there is a Seanad election before June of next year.
The other outgoing Trinity Senator, Shane Ross, has also called on the Government to make the legal changes necessary to ensure that all the graduates who submitted their registration form in time are eligible to vote.
"I am appalled at this fiasco. TCD graduates can contact me to check if they have lost their rights to vote. In the absence of government action, as a TCD Senator I will do what I can to allay graduates' fears, following this debacle".
As revealed in The Irish Times, a file containing the registration forms of over 700 graduates was misplaced so that they were not included on the register for Seanad elections which will remain in force until June 1st of next year.
The issue was raised in the Seanad by Mr Norris who pointed out that in 1997, a similar difficulty arose when An Post failed to deliver a large number of ballots. At that stage a statutory instrument, SI 321 of 1997 - Seanad (University Members) General Election (Special Difficulty) (No 2) Order, 1997, was invoked to deal with the problem.
"What is this other than a special difficulty? I am sure the Minister has possession of that statutory instrument and knows what it is about.
"That statutory instrument states that the Minister, notwithstanding section 21 of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act, 1937 and paragraph 2 of the Seanad (University Members) General Election Order, 1997, can override that and personally, as Minister, direct that those persons should be enfranchised.
"If the Taoiseach sticks to his guns and does not call the election until the very last moment, they may just squeak on, but the register comes out on June 1st and if the election is held in April or earlier, they will not have a vote," Mr Norris said.
Minister of State for the Environment Batt O'Keeffe said changes in administrative practices were being implemented to ensure a similar error will not happen again and the 700 or so persons involved will be included on the new register which comes into force on June 1st next.
"The Taoiseach has made it clear on many occasions that this Government has every intention of completing its full term in office. On this basis, the register on which the next Seanad general election will be held most likely will be the new register that comes into force on June 1st next year and not the current register," Mr O'Keeffe said.
