A retired, formerly unemployed, builder has taken a High Court challenge to the laws requiring Dail and European Parliament candidates to pay a money deposit to be eligible for election. Dail candidates must pay a £300 deposit, while candidates for the European Parliament must pay £1,000.
The legislature had no power to enact such laws, which impinged on the electability of citizens and were anathema to constitutional democracy, Ms Deirdre Murphy SC, representing Mr Thomas Redmond, of Coolree, Wexford, told Mr Justice Herbert.
She said the deposit requirement arose because the legislature had imported concepts from, and which were appropriate to, a parliamentary democracy, where a parliament can control access to itself, but were not appropriate to a constitutional democracy. In the State, access to Dail membership was controlled by the people. The Dail had no power to interfere with, or control access to, itself and was acting unconstitutionally, she said.
She was opening the action by Mr Redmond, in which he is seeking a declaration that Section 47 of the Electoral Act, 1992, and Section 13 of the European Parliament Elections Act, 1979, are invalid and unconstitutional.
He also wants declarations that conditions of candidature for the Dail are ultra vires, or beyond the remit of the law, or, alternatively, that conditions imposed must be equal for all eligible persons. The proceedings are against the Minister for the Environment, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Mr Redmond claims he submitted nomination papers on November 16th, 1992, for election to the Wexford constituency in the general election of November 25th, 1992. He said the returning officer for Co Wexford wrongfully decided the nomination paper was invalid because no deposit was paid.
Mr Redmond is claiming he also submitted nomination papers for the European Assembly elections of November 1994, but was not included as a candidate on the ballot paper because he refused to pay the £1,000 deposit required. He claims he is, and was at the time of both the 1992 and 1994 elections, unemployed and could not pay the required deposits.
The defendants are denying the claims and have challenged Mr Redmond's locus standi, or right to bring the action. They are also denying the claims of unconstitutionality regarding Section 47 of the Electoral Act, 1992, and Section 10 of the European Assembly Elections Act, 1979.
In court yesterday Ms Murphy, for Mr Redmond, said the deposit requirement trespassed not just on the right of eligible persons to seek membership of the Dail or European Parliament, but also on the right of the people to designate their rulers because it limited the choices available. The hearing resumes on Tuesday.