Free newspapers at voting centre to be investigated

AN investigation is underway after free copies of the Irish Independent newspaper were given out in Galway voting centres during last Thursday’s vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

The Galway county registrar called in gardaí to remove batches of the newspaper from polling stations in the Claddagh, Dr Mannix Road, Seamus Quirke Road and Bushypark areas of Galway city.

Marian Chambers Higgins is to lodge a formal letter of complaint to Independent Newspapers concerning what could amount to breaches of referendum rules. She is seeking a written response from the paper.