Dr. Theresa Reidy:

I thank the committee for this opportunity to contribute to the public consultation process. I speak on behalf of a group of political scientists comprising Professor Farrell of UCD, Dr. Jane Suiter of DCU and Fiona Buckley of UCC. We have submitted a detailed statement but I will highlight several points this afternoon.

There is widespread agreement that Ireland needs an independent electoral management body. An excellent report published in 2008 provided a very detailed outline on how to establish an electrical commission and the structure and role it would have. The commitment to establish an electoral commission was included in the 2011 programme for Government, and a detailed agreement on establishing it was reaffirmed when Deputy Joan Burton took over as Tánaiste in 2014. The initiation of a public consultation process which made clear from the outset that no commission is likely before the next election only reinforces the impression that the management of the democratic process in Ireland is not a political or administrative priority and we consider this to be deeply regrettable.

Ireland has a particularly long and proud democratic tradition. We are one of the world's oldest contiguous democracies and are approaching the point when we will celebrate close to 100 years of free and fair elections, which puts us in a relatively small group of countries. This point is not often aired. An important element we want to highlight is data from successive waves of the Irish national election study and the European social survey have all documented a high level of trust in the electoral process in Ireland.

In our submission, we went into a great deal of detail on the first wave of the electoral audit by the Electoral Integrity Project of electoral procedures in Ireland. It is based on the 2011 election. The data that we present affirm the overall high levels of integrity and trust in the electoral process, but the headline figures obscure considerable variation. In particular, the data highlight serious concerns about the electoral registration process, political financing and equality of access to the electoral process for women and minorities. We note that reference is made in the consultation document to the work of Professors Jørgen Elklit and Andrew Reynolds. We wish to point to a particular contribution they made in 2005 in which they pointed out that countries with high levels of trust and electoral integrity could see those eroded quickly where there were electoral instances of malpractice. We would point to recent difficulties with postal voting in the UK and broader difficulties with voting in the US, all of which have contributed to a significant undermining of overall trust in the integrity of democratic systems where there had been high levels of trust beforehand.

The electoral commission should be established immediately. Indeed, it is advisable that a skeletal body be put in place before the next general election. We were persuaded by the structures that were advanced in the 2008 report, which we consider to have been sensible. It is important that the commission be established as a statutory agency and given responsibility for the management of the democratic process. It should have operational and regulatory powers under the legislation and be led by a chief electoral officer of Ireland. It should also have an advisory board that would be established by statute and be subject to clear criteria in its composition. We point to the question of gender balance in particular, but we indicate in our submission that members with communications and electoral expertise should be required. The commission should be accountable to the Oireachtas rather than directly to a Department and financial accountability should be to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, following standard practice. It should have an annual budget, one that is negotiated directly in the normal practice, but also a statutory budget whereby it can disperse moneys in respect of the conduct of elections and referendums as required.

Regarding the remit or functions that the commission should have, it should be responsible for all areas of management and administration of the democratic process. This includes voter and party registration, boundary divisions, organisation of elections, voter education, campaign oversight, election and referendum research and political financing. It should also include the functions currently carried out by the ad hocreferendum commissions. All policy, management and oversight electoral functions should be located within the commission. The commission should be a relative small body. Following practices in other jurisdictions, it is probably best that the commission continue to liaise with local authorities in the decentralised provision of certain electoral functions, in particular, the recruitment of polling day staff and the counting and tabulation of votes. Ireland needs an electoral commission and steps to establish one should be taken immediately.