The Indo Daily: Election fraudster linked to Healy-Rae family firm
Last summer, as Ireland went to the polls for the local and European elections, one man in Co Kerry prepared to engage in some good old-fashioned civic duty – just not quite his civic duty, as it turned out.This unusual case of voter fraud first played out in a district court in Kenmare.But what initially seemed like a local matter has now become a national story, with Fine Gael senator Mike Kennelly using his speaking time in Leinster House to call for a thorough investigation.“We had voter impersonation at Kenmare polling station at the local and European elections in June 2024, caught on CCTV… I called for a thorough investigation into the facts of the incident last week, and we still need clarity about how this was quietly hushed up. It has made a mockery of our democracy.”But how did the man pull off the voting fraud in the first place? Who put him up to it? How often does this kind of thing happen in Ireland, and what is his connection to the Kerry political dynasty of the Healy-Raes?Today, Tabitha Monahan is joined on The Indo Daily by Kerryman journalist Sinead Kelleher, and by Ireland Editor at the Irish Independent Fionnán Sheahan, to look at the details of this unusual case and to ask how one vote could go from a local court to the national parliament.
