One in five Labour Party members are unable to vote in the deputy leadership election, which is due to be decided tomorrow, because they failed to pay their membership dues in time, it has emerged.
Fifteen hundred members, including former leader Dick Spring, were told that they could not vote because they had not paid their dues by the end of May - which was an extension on the usual deadline of the end of April.
However, 400 members were put back on the list, including Mr Spring and former Cork East TD John Mulvihill, after they appealed the decision to an independent committee.
However, the initial decision, which led to 40-year-long party stalwarts being told that they could not vote, has created fury among some party members and led to calls for reform of rules.
Labour general secretary Mike Allen accepted last night that the existing rules are "excessively bureaucratic", though he pointed out that they were introduced to ensure no abuse of the party's one man, one vote rule.
"They were introduced when there were fears that the process could be interfered with. But . . . there is a general view that it just makes life hard for members, rather than protecting the system," he told The Irish Times.
The €15 membership fee should have been paid in May, but several branches failed to meet the deadline because of their involvement in the election campaign, or because of the absence of branch officials.
Mr Mulvihill was one of 40 party members in the Midleton area who were initially told that they could not vote in the election between Dublin West TD Joan Burton and Limerick East TD Jan O'Sullivan.
Clearly furious about the initial decision, Mr Mulvihill, who spoke to The Irish Times last night, said: "It is a lousy way to treat members of the party. Instead of encouraging them we are turning people off.
"I regard it as an insult to people who have given everything to the party over 30, 40 years," said Mr Mulvihill, who said he had voiced his anger about the initial decision to Mr Allen in a telephone call.
Last night Mr Spring, whose sister, Maeve, is supporting Ms Burton, declined to enter the controversy, saying only that he had cast his ballot on Monday. Former senator Kathleen O'Meara was another of those initially refused.
Voting in the deputy leadership election for 4,500 party members closes at noon tomorrow, following a month-long campaign between Ms Bruton and Ms O'Sullivan.
Up to noon yesterday, it is understood that approximately 2,500 members had already cast their ballot. Counting will begin at 1.30pm tomorrow and a result may be ready for 3.30pm or 4.30pm.
