The High Court has rejected a claim by a University of Limerick (UL) graduate that it is unconstitutional to deny the right to vote in Seanad elections to graduates from colleges other than Trinity and the National University of Ireland (NUI).
The Limerick Post has reported that UL Graduate Tomás Heneghan claimed it was unlawful, unconstitutional and a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for the State not to facilitate his registration.
The court ruled that Heneghan had failed to establish an entitlement in the issues he raised and that the systems for the election of the 43 vocational panel senators and the election of the six university panel senators were valid.
The court also rejected the claim that Irish law is inconsistent with the State’s obligations under the European Court of Human Rights.
Heneghan claimed that as a University of Limerick graduate he was not entitled to vote on the panel set aside for graduates of the National University of Ireland or the panel selected by registered graduates of Trinity College Dublin.
He said the state had failed to extend the right to vote to other universities arising out of the 1979 amendment to the constitution claiming that it should be extended.
The issue was also raised as to whether sections of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act were unconstitutional in excluding UL graduates from the vote while permitting NUI and Trinity graduates.
Mr Heneghan’s claim also argued that the provisions of the Act were incompatible with the right to free elections and prohibition on discrimination provisions of the ECHR.
The State’s legal team argued that the election of members of the Seanad is a power reserved to members of the Oireachtas under the constitution and therefore Mr Heneghan’s claim was not justiciable.
Mr Justice Brian O’Moore ruled against the claim stating that Mr Heneghan’s evidence involved “assertion, anecdote or argument”.
A spokesperson for the University of Limerick refused to provide the Limerick Post with a comment on the decision.
The two panels have three senators each, which are elected after general elections. A bye election for the University of Dublin panel is due to be held next year after the election of former Senator Ivana Bacik to the Dáil over the summer.
