Four of the candidates standing for election to the Seanad in the two university constituencies will today meet Minister for the Environment John Gormley to outline concerns about substantial inaccuracies in the electoral register.
Linda O'Shea Farren, Brendan Price and Martin Hogan, who are contesting the National University of Ireland constituency, and Seán O'Connor, who is seeking election for Trinity College, Dublin, will ask the Minister to address the problem, which they claim could lead to an unsafe result. Ms O'Shea Farren, a solicitor, has complained to the NUI that the register has not been maintained properly and says that three-fifths of those properly entitled to vote have not been included.
"Following legal research and analysis, which I have carried out myself, I have some grave concerns about the NUI register, and I have been corresponding with the NUI registrar about these concerns.
"The information I have received as a result of my most recent correspondence with the registrar has caused me to contact the returning officers both for the NUI Seanad election and the Trinity Seanad election and Minister John Gormley."
Mr Hogan, who has the backing of the Green Party, said that he had secured a commitment from Mr Gormley to ask the universities to explain the inaccuracies in the current registers.
"The university senators are elected exclusively by postal vote to fill six seats. The State funds the postage cost of each candidate, issuing one canvass letter to every voter on the register. With 24 candidates running for the three NUI seats and 11 candidates running for the three Trinity seats, the total number of election leaflets for which the taxpayer is liable to pay falls just short of three million."
The level of inaccuracy in the registers was established by TCD candidate Mr O'Connor, who commissioned research from French electoral specialists Experian.
This report revealed that the NUI register of voters was 67 per cent incorrect while that of Trinity was 57 per cent incorrect.
The two registers combined total almost 150,000 graduates of the respective universities.
Mr O'Connor, who has been endorsed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, said that applying Experian's findings would suggest that more than 1.8 million letters were delivered to incorrect addresses.
Mr Price, who is contesting his fifth Seanad election, said that the problem had been around for years, yet everybody had turned a blind eye to it. "Experian's report proves what the candidates have suspected all along. You'd have to wonder why the senators elected to the university seats - many of whom are running for their fourth or fifth time like myself - have done nothing about it all these years."
