THE GOVERNMENT announced last night that the long-delayed Donegal South West byelection will be held before the end of this month.
The move followed stern criticism from the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, for the delay in filling the vacancy which arose in the summer of 2009.
The decision to hold the byelection could make it even more difficult for the Coalition to get its budget through the Dáil on December 7th.
Government Chief Whip John Curran announced the decision after a Cabinet meeting last night. He said the writ will be moved in the Dáil today and the byelection will take place between November 22nd and 29th.
He said that the writs for the other three outstanding byelections in Dublin South, Waterford and Donegal North East would be moved early in the new year.
Mr Curran said that despite the decision to move the writ today, the Cabinet had decided to appeal yesterday’s High Court decision. The court ruled that the 16-month delay in holding the byelection was unconstitutional.
He said Attorney General Paul Gallagher had raised “significant points from a constitutional position to do with the separation of powers” and that was why a decision to appeal the court decision had been taken.
The High Court ruling was made in response to an action by Senator Pearse Doherty (Sinn Féin), who argued that the delay amounted to a breach of his constitutional rights.
Mr Doherty is his party’s candidate for the Dáil vacancy caused by the election of Fianna Fáil TD Pat “The Cope” Gallagher to the European Parliament in June of 2009.
The Fine Gael candidate is sports journalist Barry O’Neill, while Labour has selected Frank McBrearty jnr.
Fianna Fáil has not yet held a convention to select a candidate.
With the Government’s majority in the Dáil reduced to three as a result of Dr Jim McDaid’s decision to resign his seat, the election of an Opposition TD in Donegal South West would make things more difficult for the Government on the budget.
In his ruling on the case, Mr Justice Kearns said the delay in calling the byelection had been unprecedented.
He said that while the relevant legislation did not set out the time period in which a byelection should be called, he was satisfied it should be interpreted as requiring the writ to be moved within a reasonable time, as in other countries.
The judge said he was not going to order the Government to move the writ or not to oppose a motion for the issue of a writ, but he hoped any clarification provided by his judgment would have that effect.
The Green Party took a decision yesterday morning shortly after the court judgment had been announced, that it needed to act “quickly and decisively” in the light of the High Court judgment.
According to a party source, it was agreed at the parliamentary party meeting that they should call for the writ to be moved as soon as possible. Three representatives of the party appeared on the plinth of Leinster House a short time later, saying the Greens wanted the byelection to be held as soon as possible.
The party gave Fianna Fáil only five minutes’ notice that it would be making its position public.
The rationale behind the unilateral move, according to a party source, was a sense among some Green Party parliamentarians that the party was not asserting itself enough, or being decisive enough.
It is understood that the Dublin Mid West TD Paul Gogarty wrote a letter of resignation to party leader John Gormley two years ago on the grounds that the party had prevaricated on taking a stand on the controversial withdrawal of medical cards from over-70s.
In a further blow to the Government last night, it lost votes in the Seanad on a motion to reform the Upper House.