The Minister for Health, Mr Micheal Martin, is expected to give evidenceat the High Court tomorrow opposing a petition by defeated 2002general election candidate Ms Kathy Sinnott aimed at overturning theelection result in Cork South Central, where Mr Martin topped the poll.
Mr Martin was in court this afternoon and is expected to return tocourt today.
Ms Sinnott is alleging Mr Martin spent more than the €38,092 limitpermitted under legislation during the May 2002 election campaign andthat this had a material effect on the outcome of the election.She wasdefeated for the last seat by six votes.
Lawyers for Ms Sinnot are contending that a written undertaking by MrMartin to assign 50 per cent of his spending limit to his party was abinding agreement and that there is no evidence to indicate he assignedless than that.
The assigned amount, plus Mr Martin's own spending of €21,430 wouldgive him a total spend of more than €40,000, placing him in excess ofthe limit of €38,000, it is claimed.
Mr Martin has denied the claims. He was elected with a surplus of €5,500votes.Also elected were Fianna Fail's Mr Batt O'Keeffe and Mr John Dennehy,Mr Simon Coveney of Fine Gael and Mr Dan Boyle of the Green Party.After a marathon count and recount, Ms Sinnott was defeated for the lastseat by Mr Dennehy.