A Co Limerick man, who is in jail for tax fraud, has failed to stop the Nice referendum taking place tomorrow on the grounds that his imprisonment had disenfranchised him. Patrick O'Doherty, of Ballingarry, Co Limerick, told Mr Justice Murphy he had been denied his right to exercise his vote from behind bars.
Mr Justice Murphy, refusing the application, said the Referendum Act and the Electoral Act provided that those in prison should have the same constituency as they had before their imprisonment. The fact they were in prison was not to deregister them or give them entitlement to vote other than in their own constituency.