Referendum result challenger seeks electoral registers

A man seeking leave to challenge the result of the abortion referendum is to apply for orders requiring the State to provide him with the original and supplemental electoral registers of voters.

Charles Byrne, of College Rise, Drogheda, Co Louth, also wants the dates of birth of voters and marked registers of all those who voted on May 25th so the material can be analysed by a public administration expert, his counsel Kenneth Fogarty SC said.

The State had told lawyers for Mr Byrne it has concerns about disclosing the information because of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) concerns, High Court president Mr Justice Peter Kelly was told.

Mr Fogarty said their position is the request falls within an exemption to the regulation.

Non-disclosure agreements could also be signed, he added. The information is necessary so their expert can analyse the relevant data in relation to Mr Byrne's concerns about the conduct of the vote, including whether a number of student voters at NUI Galway were properly registered to vote, he said.

Mr Fogarty said the total electorate has been identified as 3.37 million people and, since 2016, more than 500,000 people were on a register which they were not entitled to be on. It is clearly the case “apparently respectable” people indicated they themselves had got more than one card to vote, he said.

His side hoped the State could arrange to have the registers scanned into an electronic format as it was necessary for his expert to see unredacted registers.

Frank Callanan SC, for the State, said it is very concerned, notwithstanding Mr Byrne’s discovery application, that the applications for leave to bring petitions are heard as scheduled on June 26th.

A petition can only be brought if the court considers the applicant has provided prima facie evidence the issues being complained about materially affected the referendum result.

Mr Justice Kelly said Mr Bryne could bring a formal application for discovery. That discovery motion will be heard this week, prior to next week’s hearing of Mr Byrne’s application for leave to bring a petition.

A second application for leave to bring a petition will also be dealt with next week. It is brought by Joanna Jordan, a homemaker, of Upper Glenageary Road, Dún Laoghaire.

A third application was initiated by Ciaran Tracey, a retired public servant from Leitrim village.

Mr Callanan said on Monday said his side had received communication from Mr Tracey indicating that, for cost reasons, he was not proceeding with his application.