Judge to rule on Martin election case on Monday

The High Court will rule on Monday whether the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, spent beyond his permitted statutory limit of €38,092 in the 2002 general election in Cork South Central.

The disability campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott claims there was an overspend.

With Mr Mark Menihane, an elector in Cork South Central, she has brought a petition seeking a fresh election in the constituency where she lost the battle for the last seat by six votes to Mr John Dennehy of Fianna Fáil.

Mr Martin topped the poll in the five-seat constituency, securing 5,500 votes above the quota.

If Mr Justice Kelly determines that there was an overspend by Mr Martin, he will hear further evidence before making a decision on whether this had a material effect on the outcome of the election, requiring a fresh election to be called.

If he decides there was no overspend, the judge will begin hearing another petition brought by a defeated Labour Party candidate in Wicklow, Mr Nicky Kelly.

He is challenging the result of the general election in that constituency on the basis of an alleged overspend by the Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Joe Jacob.

Yesterday, after hearing closing submissions on behalf of Ms Sinnott and Mr Martin, Mr Justice Kelly said he would give his decision at 2 p.m. on Monday.

Because of the importance of the decision for the conduct of election campaigns in the future, he added, he would deliver a written judgment outlining his reasons for his conclusion at a later stage.

The 2002 general election was the first to be governed by new legislation, the Electoral Act, 1997, which was enacted to regulate expenditure in elections.

Candidates were allotted spending limits. In five-seater constituencies, including Cork South Central, the limit was €38,092.

The legislation also provided that candidates might, if they were a member of a political party, assign some of their spend to that party.

On the eve of the general election the High Court also decided, in a case brought by a Fianna Fáil candidate in Dublin Mid West, Mr Des Kelly, that serving TDs, senators and MEPs must include in their spending totals any amounts spent on the campaign from public funds.