Supreme Court case could affect all elections

A local election candidate who disputed a county council result in Kerry is to have his case heard by five judges of the Supreme Court, as a matter of urgency in the first appeal of its kind in the history of the State.

Some of the issues raised by ex-senator Dan Kiely had the potential to affect “all elections”, the Supreme Court indicated after an application on whether it or the new Court of Appeal should hear the matter.

Mr Kiely, now 75 and a New York businessman, lost out by two votes to a Fine Gael candidate after running as an independent in the Listowel area in the May 2014 local elections.