A JUDGE has refused to award potentially massive legal costs against a candidate who missed out on a seat in the local elections after he went to court, seeking to revisit the results of one count.
Candidates the Adare-Rathkeale electoral area were last week allowed to examine the 150 invalid votes cast in the local election, by agreement with Limerick City and County Council after Richie Crehan, of Morrissey’s Cross, Skule, Fedamore, initially went to the Circuit Court, petitioning to be allowed examine votes cast for non-party candidate, Robert Daly.
The decision had potential ramifications for the outcome of the election in the area, which was held this past June 7.
Mr Daly was described previously in court as a “phantom candidate” by the barrister representing Mr Crehan, Emmett O’Brien, who is himself a former councillor in the Adare-Rathkeale area.
On Tuesday, when the case was scheduled to come back before Judge Colin Daly, Mr O’Brien said he could tell the court that the petition to view all the votes was being withdrawn.
But while legal representatives for the local authority and the Attorney General said they would not be seeking costs against Mr Crehan, the three separate legal representatives for the other candidates in the area asked that their costs for appearing in court be paid.
Declan Harmon (BL) for three of the candidates said that “nothing was achieved,” by the court proceedings but the “status of the election was being called into question” which demanded that those elected “be actively represented”.
But Mr O’Brien objected to costs being awarded against his client, He said that the other candidates were not defendants in the case, merely notice parties and the main defendants had already indicated they were not asking for costs.
Mr O’Brien previously outlined to Judge Colin Daly how, during the count of the ballot papers at the Patrickswell Racecourse on June 8, it emerged that Mr Daly had received 65 votes but only 37 were deemed valid.
An unusually large percentage of which – 27 votes or 43 per cent – were deemed invalid, Mr O’Brien told the court.
The number of votes deemed invalid for the entire electoral area was 150, and these are the votes which were viewed by candidates last week.
Describing Mr Daly as a “phantom candidate”, the barrister said the candidate “had no picture on the ballot paper,” and “had no posters” or visible campaign.
Judge Daly refused to award costs to the other candidates and said that the action Mr Crehan had taken was “in the public interest”.
In a statement after the case, Mr Crehan said, “I feel totally vindicated” by the Judge’s remarks. “I am pleased with the confirmation of the integrity of the local election process in county Limerick…I look forward to representing the people of Adare/Rahkeale in the future as a community activist and as a candidate in forthcoming elections”.
