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THE HIGH COURT is to hear a petition for a full recount of the Seanad’s agricultural panel after a candidate lost out by 0.116 of a vote.
Labour councillor Angela Feeney lost out to Fine Gael’s Maria Byrne during the Seanad election on 1 February.
Feeney, a councillor on Kildare County Council, was granted a recount of the 23rd count, after which she was eliminated, but did not receive a full recount.
Feeney sought to bring a petition to the High Court last Friday, pursuant to section 54 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, seeking a full recount of the election to the Agricultural Panel.
Under section 54 of the Seanad Electoral Act 1947, an unsuccessful candidate can request a full recount if they are given permission to do so by the High Court.
Court records show that the petition and an affidavit were filed with the court on Monday.
In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for Feeney noted that at the conclusion of the 23rd count, the margin of difference between Feeney and Byrne was .116 votes, “or roughly one-ninth of a ballot paper”.
“The distribution of Feeney’s votes concluded the count, and a request for a full recount to the returning officer at the Seanad Count was not granted,” said the spokesperson.
“The court has granted Cllr Feeney leave to proceed by way of petition, with other notice parties.”
There are 11 seats on the Seanad’s Agricultural Panel, which is made up of candidates who are said to have knowledge and experience of agriculture and fisheries.
The Seanad has 60 members, 49 of whom are elected while 11 are nominated by the Taoiseach.
Of the 49 elected members, 43 are elected from panels of candidates representing specific vocational interests, such as the agriculture panel.
Members of the incoming Dáil, the outgoing Seanad, and members of county councils and city councils can vote in an election of panel members.
The remaining six members are elected by university graduates of National University of Ireland (NUI) and University of Dublin (Trinity).
However, in future Seanad elections, the existing University of Dublin constituency and the NUI constituency will be replaced with a new six-seater ‘Higher Education’ panel.
This means graduates of an additional 15 institutions of higher education can now apply to be added to the register.
The full list of designated educational institutions for the new register can be found here.
The petition is due to be heard by a court on 27 February.
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The most apposite satirical programme for British political events in the aftermath of Brexit is actually the most timeless of them all: ‘Yes, Minister’. There should be re-runs of ‘Yes, Minister’ on RTE and the BBC (or Virgin Media and Gold) right now.
It encapsulates the attitudes and mentality of all the players, even today, so well. From a prime minister who only wants to survive and who has been captured by the civil service; to prominent backbenchers who are pretending to be acting only on principle, but in reality have fuelled opposition to the only deal that would actually take the UK out of the European Union just to further their own ambitions to enter 10 Downing Street.
@J. Reid: Sir Humphrey makes a great case to leave the EU though…
Sounds brilliant. Break a leg with it.
In fairness I post a lot of crap must the time, but I strongly think we can all agree that 99.9% of politicians pretty much has their own personal agenda behind every piece of crap that comes out of their mouths , they don’t really fight for the People
Thanks for bringing that show to our attention, I will be sure to avoid it
All politicians only ever speak a “load of cock and bull”, to clarify, how do you know when a politician lies? (S)he opens their mouth to speak.
Take the word British out of your article headline …….. now you’ve got a show !
If you believe a word that comes out of any politicians mouth, more fool you. The entire political system, in Ireland, the Uk and US was built for a horse and cart economy. We are living in a new world now. Time for a new system!
Cock. That is all.
@Arthur Pewty: What about Leo, it mentions Irish politicians too and he talks sense most of the time
have your say