Dr. Theresa Reidy:

Picking up on the second part of the Deputy's question, which relates to postal and early voting, we do not have much research on Irish elections in this regard. In the aftermath of the 2007 election, it was possible to do some research on the reasons people did not participate. The evidence indicated a ratio of 2:1 for voters who did not participate but would have done so if facilitated; they could not make it to polling stations, they did not know where those polling stations were, they did not know if they were registered or they were away for unspecified reasons. Facilitation mattered for two-thirds of the people who did not participate. That is why postal and early voting matters. We believe there is a reasonable number of people who would participate if it was made a little easier for them to engage with the electoral process.

As it currently stands with the Bill, postal voting is confirmed for diplomats, polling workers and people with specific illnesses but there does not seem to be potential for broadening the criteria or the scope of those criteria. As we have said, under head 80, the electoral commission is allowed to advise and provide policy recommendations on this but it seems this is a relatively straightforward area in which the electoral commission should already be making progress in broadening the scope for postal voting and making it much easier for people who are travelling or away from their home for whatever reason to be able to access a postal vote. That is not currently in the legislation. Generally, over many of the evaluations of the electoral process, there has been support for that.

Early voting is somewhat different and we do not currently have facilities for early voting other than, for example, what happens on the islands or with the special voter list. That is not covered. This is one of the places where we would want the electoral commission to do some research before proceeding to making recommendations about early voting. It has implications on the production of registers and management of polling stations. This is an area where we would definitely want the electoral commission to do much detailed work. We would probably want the electoral commission to trial this in an area. This is something we have come back to a couple of times as there must be scope for testing, evaluation and decisions thereafter. As currently constructed, that type of flexibility does not appear to be present.