Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the Chairman and the officials for my absence during the presentation but I have had time to read a copy of it that was circulated. I thank the officials for their attendance. It is a belated thanks because it is some time ago since we raised this important issue. However, I am pleased that they are here and hope that we can satisfactorily deal with this real issue. We are practitioners and have first hand experience of the matter and I get annoyed when I hear replies such as "there is no provision in law". If there is no provision in law then it is up to us to work towards a change.

I am concerned that 14,355 people spoiled their vote on the Seanad referendum. I do not know the reasons for them doing so but I know from my first hand experience of being out and about on the day that I have never had so many people complain about the structure and format of the ballot paper. The same format was used on other occasions but the double negative was an issue. The matter was well put by Mr. Falvey a moment ago when he iterated the question and then pondered the confusion. Anytime one is asked a double negative there will be confusion. We need to make the ballot paper more user-friendly without interfering with the gravity of the questions, as Mr. Deering has rightly said.

We will have a number of further referendums before the lifetime of this Government expires. From the Constitutional Convention, which Deputies Mulherin, Ó Snodaigh, Kirk and myself are on, and along with Senator Susan O'Keeffe, we will recommend more referendums are held. The likelihood is that more than one question will be put on the one day which will present a challenge. It will not be sufficient to say "we will do it as we did it before and let the consequences fall wherever".

The ballot paper is confusing. The last referenda was the first time that my 18-year old daughter voted and the ballot paper left her quite confused but I can see why. I do not believe, for example, that the Irish and English versions should be together and I advocate separate boxes for them. We could have the Irish version on one side and the English version on the other side.

Let me turn to the language used, which was as follows: "Do you approve ... to amend the Constitution contained in the undermentioned Bill?" Words like "undermentioned", "aforesaid" and that sort of stuff is more for the Dáil Chamber, the courts or a tribunal than for people exercising a "Yes" or "No" decision. I could go on but I am not going to.

The Referendum Commission was very quick to pass the buck when we initially raised the issue. The phrase "none of my business" was given to us by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government but we have before us the two officials whose business I assume that it is.

Mention was made of the colour of the papers. That was fine but people did not know beforehand that the pink paper referred to the Seanad and the other option was blue or whatever. The colour code could have been adverted to by the Referendum Commission in its advertisements displayed in the weeks before polling day.

The matter of the language used by the Referendum Commission is not for today but it is worth remarking that the previous referendum on the Lisbon treaty had a condescending actor on behalf of the Referendum Commission saying that he was not very good at counting but that he could count calves. He said it with a rural accent as if this was, in some way, going to bring farmers out to vote. Let us not treat people like fools but treat them in a way that is understanding of the world we live in. It is no issue to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government officials or to the Referendum Commission if people do not turn out to vote but it is up to us, as public representatives who have been elected by the people. We have a duty. If we make recommendations, the recommendations should be taken on board. If we are told there is no provision in law, let us have such a provision. I am looking for change although we may not decide on the type of change today. I ask Mr. Falvey and Mr. Deering to accept that 14,000 people spoiled their votes, having taken the trouble to drive, cycle or walk to a polling booth, not to mention the 70% of the electorate that did not bother to vote. Research does not advert to the reasons behind this. I thank the officials for attending. I am a little disappointed with the replies and there is too much legal jargon and confusion. The Irish and English language elements need to be separated. If there is colour coding, we should know before we go in what colour to look for. In the leaving certificate, it used to be pink or blue papers for pass or honours level exams and people used to know the one they wanted. Let us make this a little more user-friendly and let us not be surprised if people are turned off by the outdated process, which has not changed since 1963, if we do not make it user-friendly. That is beyond the lifespan of some people in the room.