Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 17, after line 39, to insert the following: “(d) does not possess a tax clearance certificate issued to him or her under section 1095 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.”.

This Government amendment will set a requirement that a person must be tax compliant to be eligible for membership of the electoral commission. I believe this is appropriate for membership of any State board, and especially in this case given the centrality of the electoral commission to our democracy. Due to the easy availability of electronic tax clearance certificates, I am confident this will not place an unreasonable burden on persons seeking to become ordinary members of the commission. There is precedent for such a requirement from section 49(j) of the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019, which relates to membership of the Data Governance Board.