Mr. Art O'Leary:

I agree with the Deputy about proportional representation. It is difficult, but Irish people love it. There have been a number of proposals in the history of the State to change our way of voting, which have been resisted by the Irish people. I do not view this as a challenge; it is an opportunity. We will have many elections in the next couple of years and we should use them as opportunities to explain how PR-STV works. As I have said previously, our ambition in the education, information and active participation space should be eye-watering. We have been well resourced for the next couple of years to be able to run proper information and engagement programmes. We are really looking forward to getting stuck into this because it is not just about explaining PR-STV. It is about encouraging people to get onto the register and actively take part in electoral events. However, on a personal level, I was sorry when we had a trial of electronic voting in this country. To my mind, the election and the three or four days afterwards during the count are the greatest educational opportunity we have to explain how people get elected, how votes are transferred, etc. We will have the opportunity in the coming local, European and general elections to do that.