The Government has rejected the proposal of the Labour Party leader, Mr Dick Spring, to change the polling day in the presidential election from Thursday, October 30th, to Friday, October 31st.
The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Chris Flood, said that new legislation would be required to make the change at this stage. It would also, he added, be inappropriate to have polling on Hallowe'en.
ail to have the date changed. Mr Spring has described the
Government's refusal to change the polling date as a "shameful step backwards" from the recent precedent of holding elections on a Friday. He maintained that a Thursday polling day would disenfranchise many thousands of students, as well as many other people living away from home.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and the National Youth Council (NYCI) of Ireland yesterday backed the Labour Party's proposal. The USI said it had been campaigning for a Friday polling date back in July, but no one had listened. It hoped the Labour move was not coming too late. It was also concerned that the Government had shortened the polling hours.
However, Senator Helen Keogh (PD) accused Mr Spring of "gross hypocrisy". She said the record showed that in fact it was the Rainbow Coalition which had manipulated the voters in the most cynical way by deciding to hold certain polls on Fridays (1995 divorce referendum, 1997 general election) and others on Thursdays (1996 bail referendum). "In fact, it was Mr Spring's Labour Party colleague, Brendan Howlin, who selected these dates," she said.