Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State and others have made a valid point about the amendment being very prescriptive. I appreciate that this is not the approach that was taken to the drafting of the legislation. That is fair enough. I still have a concern, though, that the commission will ultimately read this legislation and will take its direction from it. Yes, voter education is part of its remit, but I do not think there is anything in a reading of this legislation that would give it or anyone else any sense of the priority of our democratic function. Deputy Ó Broin is correct that in the local and European elections we see people vote 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 on the local paper and 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 on the European one, the result being a ballot paper which the voter thinks is correct but which is spoiled. That is quite frequent, and education on those things is really important. That has not been done well enough to date. I hope the commission does that but I want to see that priority reflected in the legislation. Will the Minister of State look at this area and the current wording in advance of Report Stage to see whether it can be strengthened, albeit perhaps not in the prescriptive way I have attempted to do so?