Mr. Brian Killoran:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and other members of the joint committee for the opportunity to speak on the important issue of an electoral commission in Ireland. I am the chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, which is an NGO and law centre that has worked in the area of immigration and integration for a number of years.

In all our work over the years, and particularly in our integration work, we have always sought to link people from a migrant background in Ireland to the political process and we see voting and promoting their enfranchisement as a crucial and necessary step to ensure the continuation of a healthy democracy here. We must be mindful that the Ireland of 2015 has changed significantly to include a wide and diverse array of new communities, many of whom can vote in local and European elections. Many of them are now citizens of the State and will be able to vote in general elections and referendums for the first time.

People from migrant backgrounds are often viewed as not being listened to in the political process. I am struck by the crossover between how young people and migrants are sometimes regarded as not being interested in the political process. We find the opposite to be true. Migrants themselves comprise a diverse group and have diverse issues and interests, but our interest is in political enfranchisement which is an essential part of what should be done by an electoral commission when it is established.

I will focus my comments on the migrant community today. Starting in a general sense, we in the Immigrant Council of Ireland support the establishment of an electoral commission.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland supports the establishment of an electoral commission and believes it will play an important co-ordinating role in future voting and electoral processes. A number of advantages exist to the establishment of such a body, most prominent among them increased transparency and efficiency. However, in looking at determining how the functions of the commission will work and to draw upon the elements we believe are of particular relevance to people from a migrant background, we feel that the co-ordinating, compiling and maintaining of the electoral register will provide welcome oversight and reform to the process, not just in administrative terms but also in promoting the registration process to migrant communities. The promotion of education and awareness functions is a key and needed role in the functions of the commission. We realise that there will be cost implications but the long-term implications of the failure to inform and enfranchise migrant communities as to their voting rights will have a greater cost, in societal as well as financial terms.

The commission needs to play a role in the oversight of polling stations and in training and guidelines for local staff involved in administering voting at stations. This is of particular relevance to migrant voters as, at every election or voting opportunity, small numbers of isolated incidents arise where people of a migrant background are subject to inappropriate comments at polling stations and insinuations as to their ability to vote and whether they have citizenship. These comments are sometimes based on skin colour and, while they are isolated incidents, they show the need for clearer training and guidelines at polling stations.

The commission should also play an important role, either in its own capacity or in partnership with bodies such as the ESRI, the CSO, NGOs working in the area or academic institutions, in researching trends in voter registration and voting generally. This should include information relating to migrants as there is a dearth of information and data in that area. It exists in other areas and is crucial information to have.

Other countries and electoral commissions have taken on similar tasks. In Australia, the commission is explicitly responsible for promoting public awareness and for conducting education and information sessions. It participates in community and multicultural events and even goes so far as to provide language support and classes. Between 2009 and 2011, of 152 community events 98 were targeted towards migrant communities, which shows a strong reach out to migrant communities. The additional efforts in Australia have resulted in a huge increase in migrant voter registrations, numbering into the hundreds of thousands. In the UK the electoral commission regularly monitors trends in voter registration and carries out surveys and research within the UK's black and ethnic minority communities, something we also believe is crucial.

A comprehensive plan and central management function is needed, not just for voting processes for migrant communities but overall. The commission must take on this role not only in an administrative or oversight capacity but in education, training, promotion and research. Ample opportunity exists in such aspects as the positive spectacle of citizenship ceremonies, which at the moment include information about voter registration but have the potential to go much further. In our experience, information is one thing but reaching out to communities to explain things to them face to face, offering translation services and assisting people in filling out forms are the crucial extra step to get people to register and cross the line into political participation. We will provide any further assistance we can.