The Fianna Fail national executive is to be asked to look into the circumstances in which some 65 delegate votes at the party's European selection convention in Co Cork yesterday appeared to have been marked by the same hand.
Almost 1,000 delegates attended the convention at Mill street. The delegates, nominated by FF cumainn throughout Munster, were the only ones permitted to attend the convention, at which the outgoing MEPs, Mr Brian Crowley and Mr Gerry Collins, were selected unopposed to represent the party again in the European elections on June 11th.
The names of the delegates were ticked off as they entered the Millstreet hall. Each delegate was then given a voting card. However, when the cards were handed to the scrutineers after the voting, one member of the national executive noticed that 65 votes seemed to be suspiciously alike.
The votes which are the subject of the query were not counted in the final tally and, according to the convention chairman, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, they made no material difference to the outcome.