A VOLUNTARY worker in the "No" campaign during the divorce referendum yesterday began a High Court challenge to the constitutionality of the monitoring of votes in referendums.
The action against the State, which does not put in question the outcome of the divorce referendum in November 1995 is being taken by Ms Fionnuala Sherwin, Beech Park Avenue, Castleknock, Dublin.
Ms Sherwin is claiming that the control of the polling and monitoring of votes in referendums by representatives of members of the Oireachtas is unconstitutional.
The State has denied that the mechanism put in place by the Electoral Act 1992 and the Referendum Act 1994 for issuing passes for access to the monitoring and counting of votes in referendums is unfair.
Mr Diarmuid Rossa Phelan, counsel for Ms Sherwin, told the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Costello, yesterday his client was claiming that the whole system of monitoring votes in referendums was unconstitutional because it failed to provide access for citizens.
Mr Phelan said Ms Sherwin's decision to challenge the constitutionality of the monitoring and counting of votes was taken as a last resort.
Ms Sherwin claimed that there was no way supporters of the "No" campaign, who did manage to gain access to the counts throughout the State, could effectively monitor the counting of votes.
Mr Phelan said Ms Sherwin made great efforts to participate in the process on behalf of the people she represented. Her efforts were not without some success on behalf of the "No" campaigners, with a number of democratically minded members of the Oireachtas agreeing to assist them in getting passes for some counting stations.
While the outcome of the divorce referendum, which was carried by a fraction of 1 per cent, was not being argued, the risk of abuse remained because the system discouraged citizens from participating in the polling and counting of votes in future referendums.
The hearing of the action continues today.