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Islanders start abortion referendum vote today
01/03/02: Inhabitants of some of the State's islands began voting today in the abortion referendum, five days ahead of the rest of the country.
To ensure ballot boxes are not marooned by bad weather after the vote next Wednesday, the first of 19 islands are already giving their verdict.
First off the block were the 760 voters on the islands of Arranmore, Fola, Inishbofin, Inishfree and Tory, off the northwest coast.
On Saturday, it will be the turn of 470 people on seven islands off Co Cork, and on Monday 1,333 electors on the seven islands off the west coast have their chance.
In the 1997 presidential election, fog held up the collection of ballot boxes from some islands. It led to a delay on the legal declaration that President Mrs Mary McAleese had been the winner.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said officials wanted to ensure that all the votes were available to declare the final result on March 7th.
He said over 16,000 postal votes had been distributed and many of these have also begun voting. Most of the postal votes are sent to the Army, Garda and diplomatic corps, as well as people in nursing homes or with physical disabilities.
AFP
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