Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before Mr. Falvey responds, I note that the clerk has brought to my attention the fact that the turnout in the case of the Seanad referendum was 1.24 million.

That is 39%. The number of spoiled votes in that referendum was 14,355. However, in the recent referendum on marriage equality the turnover was much higher at 60.52%.

The referendums on the Seanad and on marriage equality were the ones on which there was the most public attention. When the referendum on the Seanad took place there was also a referendum on the Court of Appeal but that received far less public attention, so we are focused in terms of democracy on the spoiled votes in the Seanad referendum. Similarly, in the case of the marriage equality referendum the referendum on age eligibility was given very little focus so we are focusing on the marriage equality referendum for comparison reasons. In comparative terms the number of spoiled votes is down by over one-third. That is very welcome as far as we are concerned. Obviously there is always room for progress but in a referendum where the turnout was increased by over 700,000 the number of spoiled votes was less. That is very encouraging.

Clearly, the dedicated Referendum Commission will examine and manage these matters on an ongoing basis, but it appears that considerable progress is being made and that is welcome.