Professor Michael Marsh:

On the wording of the question, it is very important that, when referendums are given to the people, the question is clear. In my submission I pointed to the role of the UK Electoral Commission, which is starting research now for the referendum on the European Union. It is already undertaking all sorts of research on the different ways in which that might be worded. It can then advise the British Government. That is one of those things which an electoral commission can do in a neutral way.

The UK Electoral Commission also examines whether the vote should be held on the same day as other elections. Mr. David Cameron announced the other day that he saw no problem with this. They did it with the alternative vote referendum in 2011 and he was pleased with the result. For him, the fact that the public was thoroughly confused by it was beside the point. We know that when we have referendums on the same day as other elections, people can sometimes get a little confused. We had a wonderful referendum on the power of the Oireachtas to conduct inquiries and the evidence was that never in their lives had citizens been more confused about any referendum. Most of them did not know there was a referendum because there was a Presidential election on the same day. Electoral commissions can help with that.

In terms of the expansion of government, I suppose I am not particularly keen on seeing ever more civil servants, since they will be looking for pensions. I will be looking for my pension and I do not really want the money to go to anybody else. The whole point about an electoral commission is that the Government or ad hocbodies are already doing all these things, one way or another. We do not necessarily need any more people. Arguably, we would only need one judge, not three, in future. It is a matter of combining functions so that they can be better carried out, rather than anything else.