Ms Maura McMahon:

The Deputy asked three questions - how do we get more people voting, how people know to vote and how we work on the spoiled vote. This is very much an issue in the Green Party's constitution around gender commitment. We would ensure that we targetting an equal number of males, females and others - they, he, she - and also that we are targetting people who have not participated in the electoral process to date.

We strongly feel that the 60% on the electoral register is not representative of current Irish society. We do a significant amount of outreach throughout the year, beyond electoral periods, to make sure we engage with a variety of stakeholders, such as the Irish Traveller network and through the school systems. One suggestion we have had is to create a waiting list. This is a great opportunity for the electoral reform commission to create a waiting list of young people who are trained up and have it embedded in their education, that they understand their rights as voters and how they can engage from the first opportunity when they turn 18 years old. Perhaps there is an opportunity to have it so that it is when they turn 16 years rather than 18 years.

Ongoing engagement with the stakeholders is under way through our own party. Embedding constitutional mandates across other political parties would be helpful to ensure we get a wider group of people. The educational process alluded to should be a cross-party initiative embedded in the commission’s work, quite frankly. Those are things which the Green Party has advocated for and is driving. With the leadership of our own Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, Deputy Matthews as the chair, and Deputy Duffy, we will work to continue to do that and welcome the opportunity to do so together.