Ms Sharon Finegan:

One point to note is that in the preparation of a draft ballot paper, there were, as the chair has alluded previously, only eight reasons provided. "Socio-economic" was not one of them. "Socio-economic" was one which came through in the discussion of the draft ballot paper again and again from the tables around the room. There was a vote to see that included on the ballot paper and it was carried by a majority in the room. In discussing that, the advice the citizens got from the expert advisory group was that some of the reasons for which they sought "socio-economic" were covered in what became reason No. 13 but which was reason No. 8 on our initial ballot, namely "without restriction as to reason". Nevertheless, the citizens voted to put it on. As the chair has said, that has some connection with the perceived difficulty for socio-economic groups. They heard some material about that throughout the course of their deliberations.