Republican News · Thursday 13 February 2003

Ahern promises to raise concerns over register

Sinn Féin's Pat Doherty has received a commitment from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that he will mandate Minister Brian Cowen to formally raise the issue of the disenfranchisement of a large section of the Six-County electorate with the British Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, at the next meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference later this month.

Welcoming the commitment, the West Tyrone MP said,

"I trust that the British government, following representations at this intergovernmental level, will implement the necessary measures to redress the electoral registration fiasco," said Doherty.

d Gerry Adams met with the Six-County Chief Electoral Officer, Denis Stanley, on Monday 10 February in Belfast.

The Sinn Féin President said that "the onus is firmly with the Electoral Office to fulfil its legal and moral duty to ensure that everyone who is entitled to vote is registered. The Electoral Office is duty bound to ensure that people can exercise their democratic right." At a specially convened meeting of Belfast City Council on Friday last, a Sinn Féin motion calling on the Chief Electoral Officer to attend a council meeting to explain the failure of the new electoral registration process was defeated by 19 votes to 14, with SDLP councillors voting against.

Sinn Féin's Michael Browne said that a lot of those councillors in the chamber who voted against had misinterpreted the spirit of the motion.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin in West Belfast is offering the public a free photo service at the Sinn Féin centre on the Falls Road. The office is offering help to members of the public in filling in their electoral ID forms and will provide a free passport-sized photo to anyone who requires an ID card.