POSTAL VOTE:THE GOVERNMENT has rejected Fine Gael charges that people intending to cast postal ballots in next month's Lisbon Treaty referendum have been given an unreasonably short time to register.
Gardaí, soldiers, diplomats, the housebound, students living away from home, prisoners and some election staff are entitled to vote by postal ballot. Because of the need for stringent checks, they must apply within two days of the order being made for a referendum - which happened on May 12th - the Department of the Environment said last night.
Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar said thousands of people had been disenfranchised because they could not get their applications in on time on foot of last Wednesday's advertisements from Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
"Instead of encouraging these voters to exercise their right, John Gormley has effectively disenfranchised a great swathe of them. At least 50,000 voters will be denied their right to vote," he said.
However, the department dismissed Mr Varadkar's criticisms. "The deadline is necessarily short because the postal ballot papers must issue to postal voters very quickly. That only leaves a few short days for councils to receive and check applications for the supplement.
"There are numerous different postal voter categories and there are complex checking procedures and special controls involved. The time has been pared down to the minimum to allow sufficient checking of applications," said a spokesman.
