Concern over mayor plebiscite booklet delivery in Waterford

The Minister of State for Local Government has said questions have to be asked after it emerged that many people did not receive information booklets for the directly elected mayor plebiscite in Waterford.

The booklets were designed to be impartial guides on whether local authorities would have a mayor with executive functions and who would be chosen by the electorate.

The task of delivering them to households on the register of electors fell to a private company but a number of people – including elected politicians – did not receive the booklets ahead of the plebiscite.

The proposal was defeated by just 719 votes, where 52 per cent of voters cast their ballot.

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Voters in Cork city also rejected the proposal while Limerick city and county accepted it.

‘Absolute mess’

Junior minister John Paul Phelan agreed with presenter Damien Tiernan’s suggestion on local radio on Tuesday that the booklets issue has been an “absolute mess”.

“The idea that booklets with basic constitutionally required information were not delivered is utterly unacceptable,” said Mr Phelan on WLR’s Déise Today.

Kieran Kehoe was part of the committee which helped form the information campaign for the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government as a representative of the Waterford authority. He pointed to the council’s “huge public information campaign in a very short time-frame” which involved social media, a dedicated website and local media adverts.

‘Huge effort’

“A huge amount of effort went in,” he said.

Presiding officers for last Friday’s vote in Dungarvan told The Irish Times that they had seen a trend of people declaring they were unaware they would be voting on the plebiscite when they appeared at polling stations.

Waterford city councillor John Cummins said he never received a booklet and neither did many of the people he had been in contact with in his area.

“Clearly, the result was very close and I’m not saying it would definitely have impacted on the result, but it would have informed a lot more people on what they were voting on,” he said. “There is a valid argument there for holding the vote again.”