Máiría Cahill

Candidates for local government do not have the option of withholding their home address, even though candidates for Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament elections do.

Máiría Cahill, an SDLP councillor for the Killultagh district in Lisburn and Castlereagh Council, said she was not willing to publish her address because of “various legal orders” in place to protect her from violence and harassment.

Her former partner was convicted of harassing her in January 2017 and received a four-month prison sentence suspended for two months.

In a statement, Ms Cahill said making her home address public “could put my young daughter and I at severe risk in the future”.

She continued: “As the Chief Electoral Officer informs me that she has no way of redacting my address, she would have no option but to disqualify me as a candidate for not making my address available on my nomination form.

“I am assured that the law will change in future as a result of this fiasco.”

Ms Cahill added: “I have worked hard as a councillor for the last 10 months, and it is ironic that a strong vocal advocate for keeping women safe is effectively barred from running for public office due to very real concerns about her safety.”

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission told Irish Legal News: “Candidates at local government elections in Northern Ireland are required to provide a home address on their nomination forms. Under electoral law for local elections this information must be included on the statement of persons nominated and the ballot paper.

“The NIO is responsible for making any changes to electoral law in Northern Ireland. Candidates at Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliamentary elections can choose to not have their home address published. We will raise this issue with the Government as part of our election reporting.”