Kelly may contest Fox seat in court

December 2002

Cllr Nicky Kelly and Deputy Mildred Fox could find themselves in a court battle for the final seat in the Wicklow constituency.

After being involved in a marathon election count six months ago, Cllr Nicky Kelly is considering a court challenge to the declared result which saw him lose out by a handful of votes to the outgoing independent TD.

The prospect loomed at the weekend following a Supreme Court decision on the compilation of election expenses for outgoing TDs.

Should a sitting politician find that he or she has overspent on the election following the inclusion of the cost of Oireachtas facilities, that would leave the door open to an unsuccessful candidate to petition the High Court to have the election result overturned in that constituency.

TDs still have three weeks to submit their final returns on General Election expenses, and Cllr Nicky Kelly is watching developments with ‘great interest’ on the light of the High Court and Supreme Court decisions.

However, Deputy Fox says she has nothing to fear from any legal challenge to her Dail seat.

She said this week that her election expenses even included the use of Oireachtas facilities fell ‘well under’ the expenses limit.