Madam, – As many readers may be aware, in Kildare and possibly other counties, voting cards for the Lisbon referendum were sent to both Irish citizens and non-Irish citizens. Since this is a referendum on the Irish Constitution only Irish citizens are entitled to vote.
This mistake was brought to the attention of Kildare County Council, the returning officer and public representatives. Regrettably, despite this nothing was done to advise those people who were sent voting cards but are in fact not entitled to vote.
After voting on Friday morning I met an acquaintance of mine, a British citizen, who received his voting card and turned up to vote in good faith, as he had done recently for the local elections. He was appropriately refused a ballot paper and was understandably embarrassed and annoyed.
Now we all make mistakes, but would it have been beyond the capabilities of the relevant authorities to make an effort to remedy this mistake before people were inconvenienced and embarrassed in this manner? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a recent returnee to these shores, I wasn’t surprised by the depths of misinformation and disingenuous posturing that the Lisbon debate once again plumbed, on all sides. I’m thoroughly looking forward to now getting on with our lives. Clowns to the left, jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with EU. – Yours, etc,