Kerry election candidate alleges votes were removed from ballot boxes on polling day

High Court reporters

An unsuccessful Kerry general election candidate has gone to the High Court claiming voting ballots were “torn out” of boxes at a polling station in Kerry on election night.

Michelle Keane, of Talbot Bridge, Knocknagoshel, ran as an Independent candidate in Kerry in November. She claims to have seen ballots removed from boxes in front of her.

She is seeking an order from the court to have the marked register of electors, which shows who voted, released to her and for documents in the case to not be destroyed.

Ms Keane received over 1,500 first preference votes in the general election but lost out on the ninth court before Independents Michael and Danny Healy Rae, Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly and Fianna Fáil’s Norma Foley were elected.

At the High Court on Friday, Ms Keane submitted an ex parte application – where only one side is represented – naming the Clerk of the Dáil, the Irish Government and returning officer Padraig Burke as respondents.

Ms Keane told Mr Justice Garret Simons that she was seeking documents “in the public interest and for democratic transparency and accountability and electoral fairness” under Sections 130 and 131 of the Electoral Act 1992.

She is also seeking to compel the respondents to release a statement of explanation as to what happened with ballot papers Ms Keane alleges were “tore out right in front of me on the night of November 29th, 2024, when I attended the polling station”.

Mr Justice Simons said any petition against an election should have been initiated within 28 days of the polling day, and it was now over three months after the election.

Ms Keane said she was allegedly being “fobbed off” by officials in her efforts and said that six months after the election, documents sought by her can be destroyed.

She told Mr Justice Simons that people had come to her telling her they had voted for her and she “needed the marked register to cross check” the election because “people have a right to know where their vote went. We live in a democracy”.

“I physically saw a presiding officer tear out the ballots, and I made a formal statement to gardaí, and that is still under investigation,” she said.

Mr Justice Simons asked if Ms Keane was seeking to set aside the election result in Kerry and was told that it was one of the aspects of her application.

In her affidavit, Ms Keane claims she was in the Toureencahill polling station at around 8.45pm on the night when she claims she witnessed two election staff allegedly "tearing out ballot papers from the ballot box" and that she was the only other person in the room when this happened.

Ms Keane submits that under the Electoral Act 1992, that "after an election, the marked registrar showing who voted is available for inspection by certain individuals or entities".

Ms Keane submits that political parties and candidates have the right to inspect the register to check voter turnout or investigate the election's integrity.

Mr Justice Simons said he would deliver his judgment in the case on Tuesday.