The landmark ruling yesterday that prisoners have the right to vote in elections means that the Government must now give urgent attention to the question of establishing a system of postal voting. This is regarded as more likely than setting up polling stations in prisons.
The Department of the Environment and the Irish Prison Service are studying the implications of yesterday's High Court judgment. There is to be a further hearing in two weeks' time before the judge decides what kind of order to make.
Mr Sean Aylward, director-general of the Prison Service, said that if prisoners were registered to vote in prison it could have implications for certain constituencies.
For instance, the Taoiseach's constituency, Dublin Central, would have 1,200 prisoners registered between the Mountjoy complex and Arbour Hill, and there are 760 prisoners in West Dublin between Clover Hill and Wheatfield. There are places for 750 prisoners in Portlaoise. Mr Aylward pointed out that the turnover in the prison population would make it difficult to maintain a register.
Yesterday's judgment followed a case taken by Stiofan Breathnach, also know as Stephen "Rossi" Walsh, that the State's failure to provide him with the necessary machinery to exercise his right to vote was discriminatory. Walsh is serving a 15-year sentence for the arson of Collins pub in Ballybough, Dublin, and also shorter sentences for assault. He is a frequent litigant in the High Court and usually represents himself.
After giving judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Quirke said that he would hear counsel about the type of order to be made by the court.
Mr Eddie Walsh SC, for Breathnach, asked for a two-week adjournment. In a clear reference to speculation about a general election in the not too distant future, he said: "One never knows if my client might want to exercise his right sooner than any of us imagine, the way things are presently."
In his judgment, Mr Justice Quirke said that prisoners enjoyed a right which had been conferred on them by the Constitution to vote at elections for members of Dail Eireann, and no legislation was currently in force which removed that right or limited it in any way.
He said that Breathnach was entitled to exercise that right, provided doing so did not impose unreasonable demands on the authorities.
During the hearing the State had acknowledged that the extension of a system of postal voting to citizens such as prisoners would not impose undue administrative demands. Nonetheless, Mr Justice Quirke said, no such legislative provisions had been enacted.