An angry MS victim blames the response of her local returning officer in Dublin for her failure to vote in the referendum and European and local elections. "I got the most condescending, despicable letter from the local returning officer in reply to my application in response to a public advertisement to change polling stations," said Mrs Hilary McEvoy (46), who attends the day centre of the Central Remedial Clinic at Hartstown, Clonsilla.
Along with a number of other patients at the centre, she had responded to a notice in the national newspapers all owing persons with a physical disability who found access to their local polling stations difficult to transfer their vote to a more accessible venue, provided they applied before June 4th.
A letter from the Office of the Sheriff of the County Borough of Dublin, Fownes Street, signed by Mr Brendan Walsh, the local returning officer, said she needed to submit a medical certificate and there was no time for that before the election.
It was the letter's final paragraph, said Mrs McEvoy, that "really made me see red". It said: "Accordingly, by the time you receive this letter you'll be well out of time for pursuing the matter in this election. I regret I cannot assist you further."