Mr. Jimmy McMeel:

The Senator’s point about schools is a good argument for our proposal that the electoral commission should act as a co-ordinating body for returning officers. The commission could act like a kind of secretariat for returning officers. No one is fulfilling that role at the moment. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government takes care of overall policy. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform approves the framework for the charges order while the Department of Finance makes the payment. Some of us have provided a secretariat role in informal matters such as banking arrangements.