Returning Officer East Constituency

Trim, County Meath 14:58hrs Saturday 15th May 2004
This afternoon in Trim Circuit Court, Ms. Maire Tehan the returning officer for the East Constituency in the upcoming euro elections officially declared Liam O Gogains nomination papers valid.

Before she did so Ms. Tehan struck out the term 'Father' and accepted 'College Lecturer' as Liams occupation. Liam then asked Ms. Tehan to sign the adjusted document but Ms. Tehan rufused to do so, she also refused to grant Liam a copy of the nomination papers complete with assenters. In a statement to the press afterwards Liam said that he found Ms. Tehan's attitude most unhelpful and the whole process very intimidating and disheartning .

This is the third time in running for elections that Liam has been abused and obstructed by state officials, the last time it occured was in the Dail and Seanad elections of 2002. Liam further stated that the refusal by Ms. Tehan to accept 'Father' as an occupation was the ultimate insult for his 60 assenters who went out of their way by giving up their precious time and energy to assent to his nomination form in the first place.