Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I hesitate to say this, but Mr. Donnelly makes a very strong case for being in charge of the electoral commission with his passion for the subject and his breadth of knowledge. What is the opinion of the Data Protection Commissioner and Department of Social Protection on Mr. Donnelly's suggestion that the CSO has the knowledge and expertise to be able to bring it about? I will be heretical and state I agree with Mr. Donnelly that we should have electronic voting. If we were to have it, there should also be a paper vote, so if there were ever a contest on whether the electronic result was correct the paper vote could be also examined. I am not a statistical expert, but I understand electronic voting would be more accurate in determining a seat being decided by three or four votes. We should strongly pass on the message that it would be very useful if the census age division went from zero to 18 years as opposed to zero to 19 years. This would be useful with regard to drawing up an electoral register. What do the witnesses think of the idea of the electoral commission looking after the boundary commission? I ask this because of the points made by Mr. McVitty. The constituency to which he referred is the ideal example of something being put forward which a person of any political hue would not have put together. There ought to be a political input to the electoral commission, perhaps from retired politicians or people with in-depth political knowledge and expertise who will act independently. How can we best arrive at this without it being politically partisan?