Dr. Theresa Reidy:

I will address the composition first. We are not overly prescriptive in terms of whom we suggest should sit on the commission. Our point is that a quite large board is envisaged. As we all know, the larger the board, the greater the potential for long, protracted discussions and things not getting done. When we looked around the world, we saw that there are many models for electoral commissions. It is not as if there is one dominant model but many of the countries identified as having effective electoral administration tend to have smaller boards.

On the question on composition, it is legitimate to ask why the Clerk of the Seanad would be sitting on the electoral commission given that most aspects of Seanad elections are not related to national elections involving the entire electorate. The same applies to the Ombudsman. We tend to have a default number of people we put on all these boards. We want to ask why we are putting these people on the boards because it does not happen in other countries.

On leadership, we have in Ireland a tendency to appoint members from the judicial community as chairpersons of boards but it is worth asking why they have to be judges. What specific skill sets do judges have that would mean they should necessarily or always chair commissions? Judges do not always chair commissions around the world. Often, it is senior civil servants. It is actually people from political backgrounds who are appointed to the positions. We are asking questions rather than prescribing an alternative model. Although we always appoint the Ombudsman, the Clerk of the Dáil and the Clerk of the Seanad, we are evaluating whether it is necessarily the way we want to continue to do our business.

Specifically on the other question, I am very sorry but I do not have an answer. This is exactly the kind of question that the electoral commission should determine in respect of the transition arrangements because these types of questions are quite technical. The commission would need to draw on its own electoral expertise but also on what is international best practice for managing transition arrangements such that when voter registration processes are changed and new structures and systems are created, it can identify what can be learned from what has been done in other jurisdictions. I do not know whether I can specify a number of months or years. It would be random.