THE GOVERNMENT will immediately move the writs for the byelections in Dublin South and Waterford if it loses its Supreme Court appeal against the judgment on the Donegal South West byelection.
The disclosure came in a letter from the Chief State solicitor David O’Hagan to solicitors acting for two Fine Gael members who yesterday began High Court proceedings to force the Government to hold byelections in both constituencies.
In correspondence, Mr O’Hagan said the issues in both cases were the same as those in the Supreme Court appeal of the Government against the High Court ruling in favour of Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty, which found there was an inherent constitutional right that the byelection be held within a reasonable time period.
In the letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr O’Hagan said: “If the Supreme Court upholds the High Court judgment I am instructed to confirm that the Government will of course immediately move the writ for the byelection[s] and will not require that the issue of [delay] be determined by the court.”
That raised the possibility of the byelections taking place earlier than March or April, the dates indicated by Government. If a Supreme Court heard the case this term, and the Government lost, it would result in the writ being moved for an election very early in the new year.
Mr O’Hagan indicated that the Government did want an early hearing on the appeal.
“The Government intends to expedite this appeal and to seek an early hearing in the Supreme Court,” he stated in the letter.
Yesterday in the High Court, Fine Gael secured permission to bring legal proceedings aimed at forcing the Government to hold byelections in both constituencies.
The return date for the next hearing is later this month but the court gave liberty to mention the case on Thursday, when High Court president Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns makes the final orders in the Donegal South West case.
Frank Callanan SC, representing Fine Gael, emphasised the urgency of both applications at yesterday’s hearing.
An early appeal would heighten the prospect of an early general election.
A Fine Gael source later said that if the Supreme Court appeal were to be held this term and if the finding was against the Government, it might mean that the byelections could be held as early as January.
There is general agreement among all political parties that the Government would lose both byelections and that a general election would be inevitable once the writs were moved.
Yesterday’s clarification by the Chief State Solicitor went further than comments by Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the Dáil last week on the legal proceedings.
The Government has said only that it will move the writs for both byelections in the first quarter of the year.
In yesterday’s hearing, Waterford-based Fine Gael Senator Patrick Coffey challenged the failure to move the writ or his constituency arising from the vacancy created when Martin Cullen resigned his Dáil seat on March 8th last.
Fine Gael South Dublin constituency chairman Michael Van Turnhout has also challenged the delay in holding the byelection arising from George Lee’s resignation on February 8th last.
While the Government has indicated the writs for the byelections would be moved in the first quarter of next year, his clients were anxious to have the case heard as early as possible, Frank Callanan SC, for the applicants, said yesterday.
In judicial review proceedings against the Government and the Attorney General, with Dáil Éireann as a notice party, Mr Coffey and Mr Van Turnhout are seeking declarations that the delay in moving the writ is unreasonable, unlawful, excessive and in breach of their rights.
They are also seeking declarations that the delay in moving the writs is unconstitutional and in breach of the Electoral Act 1992.