Mr. John O'Dowd:

There is a problem worldwide in that when votes are counted manually, the people traditionally employed to do it have been bank tellers but there are very few bank tellers left. The people with the occupational skills of counting pieces of paper are rapidly disappearing. On the question of a quango, there is a very good analogy in the establishment of the Courts Service in that previously the administrative support functions for the courts were scattered among the local authorities, the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Finance but the Courts Service has generally been recognised as being a great success over the past 15 years or so. It has brought all those things together and been able to plan effectively. It has also absorbed substantial budget cuts successfully in the past few years. Its board has a majority of judges but that is another story. We only have the Courts Service because of Harry Whelehan and Fr. Brendan Smith, etc. so it may well be that we have the same scenario with the electoral commission. Perhaps only if we have a major scandal relating to the administration of elections will we see such a body.