Festivities may impact elections for Seanad warns Cork-born professor

National University of Ireland candidate, Cork-born Professor Rónán Collins, fears natural Christmas festivity will significantly impact voter turnout in the upcoming Seanad election for the NUI panel.

Prof Collins, who is a leading specialist in the fields in geriatric and stroke medicine, fears that many of the ballots set to arrive in the letter boxes of a potential 112,832 voters on December 29 will go unopened.

Mr Collins, a native of Kinsale and UCC graduate, said: “We have all seen the recent general election with all the party machines at full power, but it still failed to ignite the electorate, with only 59% turning up to vote.

“Reflecting on those figures, I am really concerned for an election that has over the last three votes seen only somewhere in the region of 30% turning out of those registered to vote in the NUI ballot. In reality it means that 5% of the total number of seats in the upper chamber could yet be decided on such a small number of votes.”

Contesting the upcoming election on a platform of ‘An Age Friendly Future For All’ and a fit for purpose hospital system to meet the challenges facing the country, Prof Collins is worried that the season’s festivities will have negative consequences on voter turnout.

“This campaign is already difficult enough to prosecute, without the additional challenge of engaging interest in the Seanad at Christmas,” he said.

“An upper house is an important component of a functioning democracy.

“Important legislation has come through the Seanad and the Seanad affords the opportunity to scrutinise and offer expert opinion on proposed legislation outside the heat of the Dáil chamber.

“But trying to get engagement and getting your name out there is a difficult assignment for all of us competing for these three seats and especially new candidates. It’s not like you can hang your poster from the nearest lamp pole, unlike those candidates seeking elected office in the local or national ballots.”

Prof Collins also has considerable concerns in terms of the register for the election, saying that depending on a register that was last updated in 2007 makes the canvass difficult.

“Indeed, I have come across several cases where voters are registered to an address that they have not resided in for 30 years. The system needs significant reform.”

Acknowledging that legislation is on the way to add additional universities from outside the NUI base is welcome, but Prof Collins is concerned that the new register will be managed in its current form: “I welcome the upcoming legislation to include broader inclusion of higher education institutions and this reform will need to incorporate a more inclusive mechanism of an electoral register for the constituency.

“I would plead with all graduates from the NUI to take the opportunity to engage with the Seanad election and complete the ballots, returning before January 29,” Prof Collins concluded.