Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are 85 presiding officers, all of whom are drawn from the public service and are educated, qualified people with plenty of experience. Within each polling station, there are multiple tables and officers. Traditionally, political parties put people in - this tradition ended quite a long time ago - which meant there was some level of independent, or quasi-independent observation of what was going on in a polling station. I can say from my experience in Dublin that this no longer takes place and has not taken place for quite a number of elections in Dublin. If there are people who are unqualified - to be fair, they are giving their time - they might as well just be a warm pulse in some respects. It is a serious issue in our polling stations.