Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I am a supporter of a properly funded, democratic audit process, which is not ad hocbut is in place on a permanent basis. This is a democratic issue because if there is no public process, the only process is private and there are private processes. We are then left with corporate media and big political parties being the only forces in society which gather, analyse and process the data. From the point of view of a genuine democratic approach, there has to be public funding for this process. In fact, it is anti-democratic if it is not in place.

I am interested in finding out which countries have the best practice internationally and which countries lag behind. One of the reasons I ask is that this issue is a bit of a litmus test. I suspect that the societies that do not fund this research also lag behind on other democratic litmus tests and that the countries that fare better on this front are those in which governments have put in place, or have been forced to put in place, more democratic rights and measures. It is a poor reflection on the Irish State and the approach of successive Governments that people who are clearly extremely well qualified and professional and who can hold their heads high in an international forum are forced to go around with begging bowls and are scrambling to get snippets of information from different groups to enable them to put forward an overview analysis of elections and referendums in this country. It is poor and amateurish and reflects badly on the State and successive Governments that professionals and people who have these skills and abilities are forced to scramble around like that. I ask the witnesses to give us a flavour of it is like to have to scramble around for those bits of information in order to put forward such an overview.

It struck me as interesting that whereas funding was in place between 2002 and 2007 when the economy was booming, it was not provided during the austerity period. Perhaps that indicates that this type of work is viewed as a luxury to be done when we can afford it and is not a priority and will fall by the wayside when times are tougher.

This should be a permanent thing, irrespective of the current economic climate.

A really important point has been made about the issue of people who do not vote. As people who go knocking at doors, we have experience of this. Where there is an issue that people feel really strongly about - which we saw in the abortion referendum - people who traditionally do not vote, including the young, see a reason for it then. For a variety of reasons, but in large measure, the big parties are seen as the same menu being offered. A lot of people are switching off and it is really important to get feedback and information that goes beyond the anecdotal to give an insight into what people are saying and thinking, and not just the people who are coming out to vote. That is a really important point. I will leave it at that.