Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their statements. Much has been said already, but I have just a few comments. I remember when I first became aware that a wheelchair user could not vote in his or her local polling station because it was not accessible. I was horrified to learn that. It was not something that had crossed my mind. I had just assumed that all polling stations were accessible. I think one of the candidates in the last local elections in County Cavan was a wheelchair user and she could not vote in her local polling station.

As Mr. Dolan said, it depends on the situation. People have different disabilities. As Mr. O'Leary stated, there has to be universal design. We must ensure buildings are accessible for wheelchair users. There are also other considerations, however, for example, how people without the use of their hands would be able to vote. Would they be allowed to have someone to help them? If people have intellectual disabilities, are they allowed to get some direction? I know some of these things are happening but we must ensure people know these supports exist and they can access them. It is important, therefore, that polling stations are universally designed and voting materials are accessible and easy to read. This goes for political parties as well. We must ensure our election materials are in an easy-to-read format. There may be a little bit of convincing to do but that has to be done.

As has been acknowledged, there have been improvements, albeit at a slow pace. On postal vote registration, I know of many people who got caught out by that over the years. They registered for a postal vote, voted by post and assumed they would not have to register again. They then found they had no vote at the next election and were very upset about it. It is great that this has been amended.

A long time ago, I remember arguing for the register to be linked to PPSNs. I could not understand why there was an issue with that because at one stage I had three votes and was on three different registers. I registered twice on one register under two different names and I was on another register as well. I made the county council aware of this and when the draft register of electors came out, I has been taken off it completely. When I brought this to the attention of the county council officials, they were horrified because I was a county councillor and I was not registered. I think they went off to ensure that no other county councillors had been removed from the register. It is important, therefore, that registering has become easy, registration is rolling and can be done online and from an early age.

When I was teaching, I taught the leaving certificate applied, LCA, and social education. We used to talk about voting. One of the exercises that the students had to do was to get a voter registration form and fill it out. When we had that exercise done, I used to keep the forms, keep an eye on their dates of birth and then submit those forms. The students knew I was going to submit those forms, so they were delighted they were registered to vote prior to their 18th birthday. I thought it was very important that they learned this in school. Students taking the LCA have this module in their courses but it is not necessarily a part of the leaving certificate in general. It might be part of civic, social and political education, CSPE, in the junior cycle. It is important that we educate our young people on the importance of voting.

A question was put to me and I do not know if the witnesses might have an answer to it. A young man with a significant disability and a great interest in politics would love to put himself forward for selection at local election conventions. He asked what supports would be available if he were to be elected and during the election campaign. If he were elected as a local councillor, would he be automatically entitled to a personal assistant, PA, or would he have to source that support himself? I do not even know with whom I should follow up this query. I would be grateful if the witnesses could provide some information in this regard.