Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I took up the issue with the returning officers but got the usual answer that Cork, including Cape Clear, would do as always and allow people to vote on the day, that Galway would have its poll the day before and that Mayo and Donegal would have theirs two days before. None of them was prepared to change and, in law, returning officers have absolute discretion when deciding on this issue. I hope that the Minister of State is more persuasive than I was. I have a funny feeling that she will not be because that is why we need to change the law.

I noted in the Minister of State's reply, which was deftly prepared for her, the reference to non-sailings in south-west Donegal, Mayo and west Galway but there was nary a mention of Cork. As I said, it seems to work in Cork. When I examined the position regarding non-sailings, the pattern is no different from anywhere else. To be quite honest, if one excludes December, January and the first two weeks of February - I do not think anybody will call an election in those periods - the number of non-sailing days is virtually unknown. If the weather was so bad that one could not get the boxes in, then one would not be able to do much else on the mainland either. There is an idea that only islands are disrupted by bad weather. One of the major considerations with regard to climate change - a matter about which the Minister of State has indicated her concern - is that if a massive windstorm struck on polling day, there could be a massively low turnout because older people and other individuals might be afraid of trees being blown down or whatever. We will have to put up with that situation if it happens, the Government will proceed with the election and it will be valid. The people who get to the polling station will vote, those who fail to do so will not and that will be the way of it. That would be a much more massive disruption to the whole election than the possibility that, in some freakish circumstances, there might be some delay with the boxes.

I presume the amendment will be defeated if I press it to a vote. However, I shall resubmit it on Report Stage. I hope that between now and then the Minister of State will reflect on the human issue involved and the human right to vote in a polling booth. Inishmore has 629 voters, many of whom are fishermen who return home at the weekends. Not all members of the electorate on the island have postal votes. The Minister of State will know from her own constituency that people tend to forget to opt for a postal vote. Many individuals do not like the postal vote and would rather cast their ballot in a polling booth. I refer here to those who are studying and working in Galway, not to mention places further afield, who do not avail of the postal vote. It is a terrible thing to put convenience ahead of a right. I cannot foresee a situation whereby it would not be possible, using aeroplanes or boats, to get ballot boxes to their destinations on time. It would be just as easy for certain returning officers to manage this as it is for their counterpart in Cork to do so.

This is a simple matter with which to deal. I am aware, from experience, that if the law is not changed, then the position will not change in practice. There is huge disgruntlement on the islands about this issue and people feel very badly wronged. Nobody has yet explained to me how what is right for Cork is not right for the remainder of the country.

Bheadh súil agam go nglacfaí leis an leasú seo inniu. Má tá tuilleadh ama ag teastáil ón Aire Stáit le smaoineamh air, tá súil agam go smaoineoidh sí air agus go mbeidh sé de mhisneach aici a fheiceáil go bhfuil an saol ag athrú agus go bhfuil cearta daoine i gceist anseo, go bhfuil na cearta sin tábhachtach do dhaoine agus gur ceart géilleadh don iarratas seo agus gur ceart déanamh cinnte go bhfuil an vótáil ar an lá céanna.

Tá rud eile ann nach bhfuil luaite agam agus is iad sin na meáin cumarsáide. Tarlaíonn go leor de na díospóireachtaí anois ag an nóiméad deiridh. Tá na rialacha athraithe agus is féidir bheith amuigh ar na meáin craolta go dtí meánlae an lá roimh an toghchán. Ar na hoileáin i dTír Chonaill agus Maigh Eo, bíonn an vótáil déanta ag daoine dhá lá roimh an gnáth lá vótála, agus lá amháin in nGaillimh.

The media play a significant role in elections and are very much part of what happens. The people on the offshore islands of counties Donegal and Mayo cast their vote two days before those on the mainland and miss the final debates. As members know the rules changed in the last election and one can broadcast election material up to midday of the day before the election. This is a major change. Again, the islanders are missing out of being part of all this. To be quiet honest, the only people this particular arrangement suits, aside from returning officers, are the politicians. It was handy enough to cover the islands a day or two before the election and focus on the mainland on the day of the election. However, that was not fair on the islanders. Surely the right to vote is important in 2016, given that the government...."elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, " is enshrined in the 1916 Proclamation. Surely it is important to put the right "of all her men and women," to vote ahead of minor inconvenience that might in some very odd case arise or possible logistical difficulty that one can conceive of. At this stage the logistical difficulties are more in the mind than in the reality, with all the facilities we have.