Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am seeking clarification. I have no difficulty in extending the franchise for presidential elections. However, we still have not grasped the issue of directly elected mayors in local authorities from a 26 county perspective because personality politics are involved. I do not mind saying we could end up with somebody who has a very high profile, such as Bono, being elected. That could happen if we extended voting rights to a large number of people who ultimately might vote and high quality personalities were looking to be elected to positions for reasons to do with their profile.

It was mentioned that the Presidency was not an overly important job. I certainly view it as a very important job. I said that one could not be a master to two individuals. We all talk about one man, one vote. The witnesses have expertise in this area. We have moved into a discussion involving other elections, but perhaps we should have stuck with the presidential election.

A French citizen who is entitled to vote in French elections may have the opportunity to vote in various other countries, such as Belgium. How can we ensure that such a person, who has voted in a French election, does not then vote in a Belgian election? Such a person is exercising a franchise I do not believe he or she should be entitled to.

For example, I do not believe I have an entitlement to vote in England because I am not a resident there. We need to tease out the issues. Every citizen is entitled to one vote in one particular element of the election. Verification is a major issue.

That is why I said people were constantly crossing the Border in both directions and voting and exercising two franchises, which is illegal. Will Professor Harvey comment on this?