Vote-rigging probe - No effort must be spared

Extremely serious allegations have been made in relation to vote-rigging and personation in Thurles in the last local election which, if proved to be true and as extensive as suspected, could possibly have distorted the results.

These charges have been made by the mayor of the town, Labour councillor John Kenehan, who was a successful candidate, and they are now the subject of a garda investigation.

Only time will tell if the allegations are supported by evidence from that investigation, so the implications insofar as the extent to which the results may have been influenced are still a matter of conjecture at this moment in time.

The mayor, clearly, believes that he has grounds for causing the gardaí to instigate an investigation into the allegations and it is imperative that the truth emerge from this.

If the allegations are true, a criminal offence was committed which goes to the very heart of our democratic system: the expropriation of peoples' franchise their right to vote or not.

In this case, the inference is that the abuse occurred on a wide scale and in a concerted way to the degree that a not insignificant number of illegal votes were cast.