Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 14 November 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed)
11:00 am
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. It might be a bit later on a Friday, but we can get to that. All of the information is on the website. Inishbofin, with 166 people, is in the same situation.
Bere Island has 179 people and Cape Clear Island has 122. Presumably, they wait for the last boat in the evening. There are also Dursey, Heir and Whiddy islands, which have 9, 29 and 14 people, respectively. Long Island has 11. These are small numbers and the islands are inshore. Boats are in an out regularly. Sherkin Island has 102 people.
The larger islands that are further offshore and to which there is a regular evening sailing that is heavily patronised on a Friday close early. If they closed an hour an a half after the last boat arrived, that would give everyone time to get off the boat, dump some bags and vote. That would be reasonable. If the time is 7.30 p.m. or 8 p.m., people might as well stay.