Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree completely with the Cathaoirleach. I urge the Electoral Commission to be enthusiastic and ambitious and to sort out the issue of posters, before the next election if possible. It is environmentally bad. It has a distorting effect. I do not think we should ban them entirely. They do, of course, have a value. A reasonable limit should be set, though, and a level playing field ensured. If we care about our democracy, then let us try to ensure some fairness in this space too.

Returning to the polling stations and the polling officers business, I think Deputy Ó Broin makes a fair point. I do not want to malign the people who have been working in and staffing our polling stations. That is not my intention. I hope the representatives of the Electoral Commission will agree, though, that the role of presiding over the casting of the ballots in each polling station is an important one. I am curious to understand how the commission will do a post-election review of what happens in each polling station. What are the plans for this? How will this work in practice?